Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities
Benthic communities below the photic zone are largely reliant on the export of surface-water primary production and the flux of partially degraded organic matter to the seabed, i.e. pelagic−benthic coupling. Over the past decades, however, the role of chemosynthetically produced carbon in food webs...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doaj.org/article/916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e 2023-05-15T14:53:08+02:00 Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities Emmelie K. L. Åström Bodil A. Bluhm Tine L. Rasmussen 2022-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doaj.org/article/916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doaj.org/article/916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) methane chemosynthesis food web benthos Svalbard Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 2022-12-30T22:40:19Z Benthic communities below the photic zone are largely reliant on the export of surface-water primary production and the flux of partially degraded organic matter to the seabed, i.e. pelagic−benthic coupling. Over the past decades, however, the role of chemosynthetically produced carbon in food webs has been recognized in various habitats. Cold seeps are now known to be widespread across circumpolar Arctic shelves where natural release of hydrocarbons occurs at the seabed. Here, we investigated to what extent chemosynthesis-based carbon (CBC) enters the food web in a high latitude shelf-system. Specifically, we estimated the contributions of chemosynthesis-based carbon to primarily benthic invertebrate taxa from seeps at both shallow and deeper shelves and comparative non-seep areas in the Svalbard-Barents Sea region using bulk stable isotope-analysis of carbon and nitrogen. Our results show low δ13C values (-51.3 to -32.7 ‰) in chemosymbiotic siboglinids and several species of benthic, higher-trophic level, invertebrates (mainly polychaetes and echinoderms; -35.0 to -26.1‰) collected at cold seeps, consistent with assimilation of chemosynthesis-based carbon into the Arctic benthic food web. Using a two-component mixing equation, we demonstrate that certain species could derive more than 50% of their carbon from chemosynthesis-based carbon. These findings show that autochthonous chemosynthetic energy sources can contribute to supporting distinct groups of ‘background’ benthic taxa at these Arctic seep-habitats beyond microbial associations and chemosymbiotic species. Furthermore, we found a higher degree of chemosynthesis-based carbon in benthos at the deeper Barents Sea shelf seeps (>330 m) compared to seeps at the Western Svalbard shelf (<150 m water-depth), and we suggest this result reflects the differences in depth range, surface production and pelagic-benthic coupling. We detected large intra-species variations in carbon signatures within and across geographical locations and, combined with isotopic ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
methane chemosynthesis food web benthos Svalbard Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
methane chemosynthesis food web benthos Svalbard Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Emmelie K. L. Åström Bodil A. Bluhm Tine L. Rasmussen Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
topic_facet |
methane chemosynthesis food web benthos Svalbard Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Benthic communities below the photic zone are largely reliant on the export of surface-water primary production and the flux of partially degraded organic matter to the seabed, i.e. pelagic−benthic coupling. Over the past decades, however, the role of chemosynthetically produced carbon in food webs has been recognized in various habitats. Cold seeps are now known to be widespread across circumpolar Arctic shelves where natural release of hydrocarbons occurs at the seabed. Here, we investigated to what extent chemosynthesis-based carbon (CBC) enters the food web in a high latitude shelf-system. Specifically, we estimated the contributions of chemosynthesis-based carbon to primarily benthic invertebrate taxa from seeps at both shallow and deeper shelves and comparative non-seep areas in the Svalbard-Barents Sea region using bulk stable isotope-analysis of carbon and nitrogen. Our results show low δ13C values (-51.3 to -32.7 ‰) in chemosymbiotic siboglinids and several species of benthic, higher-trophic level, invertebrates (mainly polychaetes and echinoderms; -35.0 to -26.1‰) collected at cold seeps, consistent with assimilation of chemosynthesis-based carbon into the Arctic benthic food web. Using a two-component mixing equation, we demonstrate that certain species could derive more than 50% of their carbon from chemosynthesis-based carbon. These findings show that autochthonous chemosynthetic energy sources can contribute to supporting distinct groups of ‘background’ benthic taxa at these Arctic seep-habitats beyond microbial associations and chemosymbiotic species. Furthermore, we found a higher degree of chemosynthesis-based carbon in benthos at the deeper Barents Sea shelf seeps (>330 m) compared to seeps at the Western Svalbard shelf (<150 m water-depth), and we suggest this result reflects the differences in depth range, surface production and pelagic-benthic coupling. We detected large intra-species variations in carbon signatures within and across geographical locations and, combined with isotopic ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Emmelie K. L. Åström Bodil A. Bluhm Tine L. Rasmussen |
author_facet |
Emmelie K. L. Åström Bodil A. Bluhm Tine L. Rasmussen |
author_sort |
Emmelie K. L. Åström |
title |
Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
title_short |
Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
title_full |
Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
title_fullStr |
Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities |
title_sort |
chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in arctic benthic communities |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doaj.org/article/916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea |
genre |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doaj.org/article/916496743c5943f58e3c7f32fe4adb2e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1766324547047391232 |