Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea
When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, i.e., parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remain unstudied for many ocean regions since they are stochastically deposited and r...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 https://doaj.org/article/26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 2023-05-15T13:52:51+02:00 Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea Julian B. Stauffer Autun Purser Huw J. Griffiths Craig R. Smith Henk-Jan T. Hoving 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 https://doaj.org/article/26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 https://doaj.org/article/26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) scavenging penguin Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin OFOBS fisheries discards Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 2022-12-30T20:18:59Z When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, i.e., parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remain unstudied for many ocean regions since they are stochastically deposited and rapidly scavenged. The Southern Ocean habitat supports large populations of megafauna but few food falls have been documented. To investigate the diversity and quantity of food falls in the northwestern Weddell Sea, we analyzed 8476 images from the deep seafloor that were captured during the expedition PS118 on RV Polarstern in 2019 by the camera system OFOBS (Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System). OFOBS was towed 1.5 m above the seafloor along five transects (400 to 2200 m seafloor depth) east of the Antarctic Peninsula. We observed the carcasses of one baleen whale, one penguin, and four fish at depths of 647 m, 613 m, 647 m, 2136 m, 2165 m, and 2112 m, respectively, as well as associated scavenging fauna. To the best of our knowledge, we describe here the first in situ observations of deep-sea food falls for penguins and fish in the Southern Ocean. While the whale carcass seemed in an intermediate successional stage, both the penguin and the fish were likely recently deposited and three of the fish potentially resulted from fishery discards. Our relatively small data set suggests that a diverse array of food falls provide nutrients to the slopes of the Powell Basin. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whale Southern Ocean Weddell Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell Powell Basin ENVELOPE(-49.500,-49.500,-62.250,-62.250) Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
scavenging penguin Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin OFOBS fisheries discards Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
scavenging penguin Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin OFOBS fisheries discards Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Julian B. Stauffer Autun Purser Huw J. Griffiths Craig R. Smith Henk-Jan T. Hoving Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
topic_facet |
scavenging penguin Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin OFOBS fisheries discards Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, i.e., parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remain unstudied for many ocean regions since they are stochastically deposited and rapidly scavenged. The Southern Ocean habitat supports large populations of megafauna but few food falls have been documented. To investigate the diversity and quantity of food falls in the northwestern Weddell Sea, we analyzed 8476 images from the deep seafloor that were captured during the expedition PS118 on RV Polarstern in 2019 by the camera system OFOBS (Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System). OFOBS was towed 1.5 m above the seafloor along five transects (400 to 2200 m seafloor depth) east of the Antarctic Peninsula. We observed the carcasses of one baleen whale, one penguin, and four fish at depths of 647 m, 613 m, 647 m, 2136 m, 2165 m, and 2112 m, respectively, as well as associated scavenging fauna. To the best of our knowledge, we describe here the first in situ observations of deep-sea food falls for penguins and fish in the Southern Ocean. While the whale carcass seemed in an intermediate successional stage, both the penguin and the fish were likely recently deposited and three of the fish potentially resulted from fishery discards. Our relatively small data set suggests that a diverse array of food falls provide nutrients to the slopes of the Powell Basin. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Julian B. Stauffer Autun Purser Huw J. Griffiths Craig R. Smith Henk-Jan T. Hoving |
author_facet |
Julian B. Stauffer Autun Purser Huw J. Griffiths Craig R. Smith Henk-Jan T. Hoving |
author_sort |
Julian B. Stauffer |
title |
Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
title_short |
Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
title_full |
Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
title_fullStr |
Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
title_sort |
food falls in the deep northwestern weddell sea |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 https://doaj.org/article/26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-49.500,-49.500,-62.250,-62.250) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell Powell Basin |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell Powell Basin |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whale Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whale Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 https://doaj.org/article/26584559798842ce81e4d5c4ffaf0c71 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766257608248786944 |