Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea
When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remains unstudied for many ocean regions, since they are stochastically deposited and rapid...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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Language: | English |
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2022
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Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/1/fmars_09_1055318.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/2/6303543.zip https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318/abstract https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 |
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:57189 2024-02-11T09:58:39+01:00 Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea Stauffer, Julian B. Purser, Autun Griffiths, Huw J. Smith, Craig R. Hoving, Henk-Jan T. 2022-11-17 text archive https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/1/fmars_09_1055318.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/2/6303543.zip https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318/abstract https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 en eng Frontiers https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/1/fmars_09_1055318.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/2/6303543.zip Stauffer, J. B., Purser, A., Griffiths, H. J., Smith, C. R. and Hoving, H. J. T. (2022) Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea. Open Access Frontiers in Marine Science, 9 . Art.Nr. 1055318. DOI 10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 <https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318>. doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 cc_by_4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 2024-01-15T00:26:12Z When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remains 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 deep-sea floor images 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 OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin ENVELOPE(-49.500,-49.500,-62.250,-62.250) Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
When pelagic organisms die and fall onto the deep-sea floor they create food falls, parcels of organic enrichment that subsidize deep benthic scavenging communities. The diversity and quantities of food falls remains 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 deep-sea floor images 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 |
Stauffer, Julian B. Purser, Autun Griffiths, Huw J. Smith, Craig R. Hoving, Henk-Jan T. |
spellingShingle |
Stauffer, Julian B. Purser, Autun Griffiths, Huw J. Smith, Craig R. Hoving, Henk-Jan T. Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea |
author_facet |
Stauffer, Julian B. Purser, Autun Griffiths, Huw J. Smith, Craig R. Hoving, Henk-Jan T. |
author_sort |
Stauffer, Julian B. |
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 |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/1/fmars_09_1055318.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/2/6303543.zip https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318/abstract https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-49.500,-49.500,-62.250,-62.250) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Powell Basin Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whale Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whale Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/1/fmars_09_1055318.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/57189/2/6303543.zip Stauffer, J. B., Purser, A., Griffiths, H. J., Smith, C. R. and Hoving, H. J. T. (2022) Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea. Open Access Frontiers in Marine Science, 9 . Art.Nr. 1055318. DOI 10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 <https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318>. doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 |
op_rights |
cc_by_4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1055318 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1790594361589760000 |