scholarly journals Evidence for benthic-pelagic food web coupling and carbon export from California margin bamboo coral archives

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 2595-2621 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Hill ◽  
C. R. Myrvold ◽  
H. J. Spero ◽  
T. P. Guilderson

Abstract. Deep-sea bamboo corals (order Gorgonacea, family Isididae) are known to record changes in water mass chemistry over decades to centuries. These corals are composed of a two-part skeleton of calcite internodes segmented by gorgonin organic nodes. We examine the spatial variability of bamboo coral organic node 13C/12C and 15N/14N from thirteen bamboo coral specimens sampled along the California margin (37–32° N; 792 to 2136 m depth). Radiocarbon analyses of the organic nodes show the presence of the anthropogenic bomb spike, indicating the corals utilize a surface-derived food source (pre-bomb D14C values of ∼ −100‰, post-bomb values to 82‰). Carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the organic nodes (13C = −15.9‰ to −19.2‰ 15N = 13.8‰ to 19.4‰) suggest selective feeding on surface-derived organic matter or zooplankton. A strong relationship between coral 15N and habitat depth indicate a potential archive of changing carbon export, with decreased 15N values reflecting reduced microbial degradation (increased carbon flux) at shallower depths. Using four multi-centennial length coral records, we interpret long-term 15N stability in the California Current. Organic node 13C values record differences in carbon isotope fractionation dictated by nearshore vs. offshore primary production. These findings imply strong coupling between primary production, pelagic food webs, and deep-sea benthic communities.

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3845-3854 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Hill ◽  
C. R. Myrvold ◽  
H. J. Spero ◽  
T. P. Guilderson

Abstract. Deep-sea bamboo corals (order Gorgonacea, family Isididae) are known to record changes in water mass chemistry over decades to centuries. These corals are composed of a two-part skeleton of calcite internodes segmented by gorgonin organic nodes. We examine the spatial variability of bamboo coral organic node 13C/12C and 15N/14N from 13 bamboo coral specimens sampled along the California margin (37–32° N, 792–2136 m depth). Radiocarbon analyses of the organic nodes show the presence of the anthropogenic bomb spike, indicating the corals utilize a surface-derived food source (pre-bomb D14C values of ∼−100‰, post-bomb values up to 82‰). Carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the organic nodes (δ13C = −15.9‰ to −19.2‰; δ15N = 13.8‰ to 19.4‰) suggest selective feeding on surface-derived organic matter or zooplankton. A strong relationship between coral δ15N and habitat depth indicates a potential archive of changing carbon export, with decreased δ15N values reflecting reduced microbial degradation (increased carbon flux) at shallower depths. Using four multi-centennial-length coral records, we interpret long-term δ15N stability in the California Current. Organic node δ15C values record differences in carbon isotope fractionation dictated by nearshore vs. offshore primary production. These findings imply strong coupling between primary production, pelagic food webs, and deep-sea benthic communities.


2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuencisla Cañadas ◽  
Dominic Papineau ◽  
Melanie J. Leng ◽  
Chao Li

AbstractMember IV of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation records the recovery from the most negative carbon isotope excursion in Earth history. However, the main biogeochemical controls that ultimately drove this recovery have yet to be elucidated. Here, we report new carbon and nitrogen isotope and concentration data from the Nanhua Basin (South China), where δ13C values of carbonates (δ13Ccarb) rise from − 7‰ to −1‰ and δ15N values decrease from +5.4‰ to +2.3‰. These trends are proposed to arise from a new equilibrium in the C and N cycles where primary production overcomes secondary production as the main source of organic matter in sediments. The enhanced primary production is supported by the coexisting Raman spectral data, which reveal a systematic difference in kerogen structure between depositional environments. Our new observations point to the variable dominance of distinct microbial communities in the late Ediacaran ecosystems, and suggest that blooms of oxygenic phototrophs modulated the recovery from the most negative δ13Ccarb excursion in Earth history.


Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stanley

New findings suggest that rare events underlie a global inverse relationship between primary production of organic carbon in the upper ocean and the fraction that is exported to the deep sea.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Braeckman ◽  
Felix Janssen ◽  
Gaute Lavik ◽  
Marcus Elvert ◽  
Hannah Marchant ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the Arctic Ocean, increased sea surface temperature and sea ice retreat have triggered shifts in phytoplankton communities. In Fram Strait, coccolithophorids have been occasionally observed to replace diatoms as the dominating taxon of spring blooms. Deep-sea benthic communities depend strongly on such blooms but with a change in quality and quantity of primarily produced organic matter [OM] input, this may likely have implications for deep-sea life. We compared the in situ responses of Arctic deep-sea benthos to input of phytodetritus from a diatom (Thalassiosira sp.) and a coccolithophorid (Emiliania huxleyi) species. We traced the fate of 13C and 15N labelled phytodetritus into respiration, assimilation by bacteria and infauna in a 4 d and 14 d experiment. Bacteria were key assimilators in the Thalassiosira OM degradation whereas Foraminifera and other infauna were at least as important as bacteria in the Emiliania OM assimilation. After 14 d, 5 times less carbon and 3.8 times less nitrogen of the Emiliania detritus was recycled compared to Thalassiosira detritus. This implies that the utilization of Emiliania OM may be less efficient than for Thalassiosira OM. Our results indicate that a shift from diatom-dominated input to a coccolithophorid-dominated pulse could entail a delay in OM cycling, which may affect bentho-pelagic coupling.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah L. Bourne ◽  
James K. B. Bishop ◽  
Elizabeth J. Connors ◽  
Todd J. Wood

Abstract. To understand the vertical variations of carbon fluxes in biologically productive waters, four autonomous Carbon Flux Explorers (CFEs) and ship-lowered CTD-interfaced particle-sensitive transmissometer and scattering sensors were deployed in a filament of offshore flowing recently upwelled water during the June 2017 California Current Ecosystem – Long Term Ecological Research process study. The Lagrangian CFEs operating at depths from 100–500 m yielded carbon flux and its partitioning with size from 30 µm–1 cm at three intense study locations within the filament and at a location outside the filament. Different particle classes (anchovy pellets, copepod pellets and > 1000 µm aggregates) dominated the 100–150 m fluxes during successive stages of the filament evolution as it progressed offshore. Fluxes were very high at all locations in the filament; below 150 m, flux was invariant or increased with depth at the two locations closer to the coast. Martin curve b factors for total particulate carbon flux were +0.1, +0.87, −0.27, and −0.39 at the three successively occupied locations within the plume, and in transitional waters, respectively. Particle transfer efficiencies between 100 to 500 m were far greater within both filament and California Current waters than calculated using a classic Martin b factor of −0.86. Interestingly, the flux profiles for all particles  90 %) of particle flux was carried by > 1000 µm sized aggregates. Mechanisms to explain a factor of three flux increase between 150 and 500 m at the mid plume location are investigated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (21) ◽  
pp. 6537-6557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Braeckman ◽  
Felix Janssen ◽  
Gaute Lavik ◽  
Marcus Elvert ◽  
Hannah Marchant ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the Arctic Ocean, increased sea surface temperature and sea ice retreat have triggered shifts in phytoplankton communities. In Fram Strait, coccolithophorids have been occasionally observed to replace diatoms as the dominating taxon of spring blooms. Deep-sea benthic communities depend strongly on such blooms, but with a change in quality and quantity of primarily produced organic matter (OM) input, this may likely have implications for deep-sea life. We compared the in situ responses of Arctic deep-sea benthos to input of phytodetritus from a diatom (Thalassiosira sp.) and a coccolithophorid (Emiliania huxleyi) species. We traced the fate of 13C- and 15N-labelled phytodetritus into respiration, assimilation by bacteria and infauna in a 4-day and 14-day experiment. Bacteria were key assimilators in the Thalassiosira OM degradation, whereas Foraminifera and other infauna were at least as important as bacteria in the Emiliania OM assimilation. After 14 days, 5 times less carbon and 3.8 times less nitrogen of the Emiliania detritus was recycled compared to Thalassiosira detritus. This implies that the utilization of Emiliania OM may be less efficient than for Thalassiosira OM. Our results indicate that a shift from diatom-dominated input to a coccolithophorid-dominated pulse could entail a delay in OM cycling, which may affect benthopelagic coupling.


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