'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean
Zooplankton carcasses are an important, yet understudied, pathway of the biological gravitational pump. To understand their contribution to the downward carbon flux in the subantarctic, carcasses of the copepod Neocalanus tonsus were analyzed for carbon content, microbial remineralization rates, and...
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Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography
2022
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:45264 2023-05-15T18:25:27+02:00 'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean Halfter, S Cavan, EL Butterworth, P Swadling, KM Boyd, PW 2022 https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45264/ unknown Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography Halfter, S orcid:0000-0002-0480-0350 , Cavan, EL, Butterworth, P, Swadling, KM orcid:0000-0002-7620-841X and Boyd, PW orcid:0000-0001-7850-1911 2022 , ''Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean' , Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 67, no. 1 , pp. 13-25 , doi:10.1002/lno.11971 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.11971>. zooplankton carcass biological carbon pump microbial decomposition Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11971 2022-03-07T23:17:17Z Zooplankton carcasses are an important, yet understudied, pathway of the biological gravitational pump. To understand their contribution to the downward carbon flux in the subantarctic, carcasses of the copepod Neocalanus tonsus were analyzed for carbon content, microbial remineralization rates, and sinking velocities. In addition, the sensitivity of carcass flux to varying mortality, microbial turnover, and sinking velocity rates was analyzed and compared to carbon flux measurements from sediment traps. Microbial decomposition rates (between 0.02 and 0.16 d−1) were comparable to those of marine snow, highlighting the importance of carcasses as microbial hotspots. High sinking velocities (730 ± 182 m d−1) suggest that particulate organic carbon flux to the deep ocean is substantial. Carcass flux is sensitive to a change in sinking velocity but appears less sensitive to fluctuations in microbial decomposition rate. More research on zooplankton mortality and the factors that influence carcass sinking through the water column is needed to quantify the carcass-mediated carbon export and enable their inclusion in marine ecosystem and biogeochemical models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Southern Ocean Limnology and Oceanography 67 1 13 25 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
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ftunivtasmania |
language |
unknown |
topic |
zooplankton carcass biological carbon pump microbial decomposition |
spellingShingle |
zooplankton carcass biological carbon pump microbial decomposition Halfter, S Cavan, EL Butterworth, P Swadling, KM Boyd, PW 'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
zooplankton carcass biological carbon pump microbial decomposition |
description |
Zooplankton carcasses are an important, yet understudied, pathway of the biological gravitational pump. To understand their contribution to the downward carbon flux in the subantarctic, carcasses of the copepod Neocalanus tonsus were analyzed for carbon content, microbial remineralization rates, and sinking velocities. In addition, the sensitivity of carcass flux to varying mortality, microbial turnover, and sinking velocity rates was analyzed and compared to carbon flux measurements from sediment traps. Microbial decomposition rates (between 0.02 and 0.16 d−1) were comparable to those of marine snow, highlighting the importance of carcasses as microbial hotspots. High sinking velocities (730 ± 182 m d−1) suggest that particulate organic carbon flux to the deep ocean is substantial. Carcass flux is sensitive to a change in sinking velocity but appears less sensitive to fluctuations in microbial decomposition rate. More research on zooplankton mortality and the factors that influence carcass sinking through the water column is needed to quantify the carcass-mediated carbon export and enable their inclusion in marine ecosystem and biogeochemical models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Halfter, S Cavan, EL Butterworth, P Swadling, KM Boyd, PW |
author_facet |
Halfter, S Cavan, EL Butterworth, P Swadling, KM Boyd, PW |
author_sort |
Halfter, S |
title |
'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
title_short |
'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
title_full |
'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
'Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
'sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic southern ocean |
publisher |
Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45264/ |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Halfter, S orcid:0000-0002-0480-0350 , Cavan, EL, Butterworth, P, Swadling, KM orcid:0000-0002-7620-841X and Boyd, PW orcid:0000-0001-7850-1911 2022 , ''Sinking dead' -- how zooplankton carcasses contribute to particulate organic carbon flux in the subantarctic Southern Ocean' , Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 67, no. 1 , pp. 13-25 , doi:10.1002/lno.11971 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.11971>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11971 |
container_title |
Limnology and Oceanography |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
13 |
op_container_end_page |
25 |
_version_ |
1766206909756473344 |