Meiofauna of surface sediments in the Cretan Sea


Autoria(s): Danovaro, Roberto; Tselepides, Anastasios; Otegui, Ana; Della Croce, Norberto
Cobertura

MEDIAN LATITUDE: 35.291429 * MEDIAN LONGITUDE: 25.140000 * SOUTH-BOUND LATITUDE: 35.240000 * WEST-BOUND LONGITUDE: 25.140000 * NORTH-BOUND LATITUDE: 35.420000 * EAST-BOUND LONGITUDE: 25.140000 * DATE/TIME START: 1994-08-01T00:00:00 * DATE/TIME END: 1995-09-01T00:00:00

Data(s)

28/04/2000

Resumo

Quantitative information on metazoan meiofaunal abundance and biomass was obtained from three continental shelf (at 40, 100 and 200 m depth) and four deep-sea stations (at 540, 700, 940 and 1540 m depth) in the Cretan Sea (South Aegean Sea, NE Mediterranean). Samples were collected on a seasonal basis (from August 1994 to September 1995) with the use of a multiple corer. Meiofaunal abundance and biomass on the continental shelf of the Cretan Sea were high, in contrast to the extremely low values reported for the bathyal sediments that showed values comparable to those reported for abyssal and hadal environments. In order to explain the spatial and seasonal changes in metazoan meiofauna these data were compared with: (1) the concentrations of 'food indicators' (such as proteins, lipids, soluble carbohydrates and CPE) (2) the bacterial biomass (3) the flux of labile organic compounds to the sea floor at a fixed station (D7, 1540 m depth). Highly significant relationships between meiofaunal parameters and CPE, protein and lipid concentrations and bacterial biomass were found. Most of the indicators of food quality and quantity (such as CPE, proteins and carbohydrates) showed a clear seasonality with highest values in February and lowest in September. Such changes were more evident on the continental shelf rather than at deeper depths. On the continental shelf, significant seasonal changes in meiofaunal density were related to changes in the input of labile organic carbon whereas meiofaunal assemblages on the deep-sea stations showed time-lagged changes in response to the food input recorded in February 95. At all deep-sea stations meiofaunal density increased with a time lag of 2 months. Indications for a time-lagged meiofaunal response to the food inputs were also provided by the increase in nauplii densities during May 95 and the increase in individual biomass of nematodes, copepods and polychaetes between February and May 1995. The lack of strong seasonal changes in deep sea meiofaunal density suggests that the supply of organic matter below 500 m is not strong enough to support a significant meiofaunal development. Below 700 m depth >92% of the total biomass in the sediment was represented by bacteria. The ratio of bacterial to meiofaunal biomass increased with increasing water depth indicating that bacteria are probably more effective than meiofauna in exploiting refractory organic compounds. These data lead us to hypothesise that the deep-sea sediments of the Cretan Sea are largely dependent upon a benthic microbial loop.

Formato

application/zip, 6 datasets

Identificador

https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.759901

doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.759901

Idioma(s)

en

Publicador

PANGAEA

Relação

Danovaro, Roberto; Marrale, Daniela; Dell'Anno, Antonio; Della Croce, Norberto; Tselepides, Anastasios; Fabiano, Mauro (2000): Bacterial response to seasonal changes in labile organic matter composition on the continental shelf and bathyal sediments of the Cretan Sea. Progress in Oceanography, 46/2-4, 345-366, doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(00)00025-2

Tselepides, Anastasios; Polychronaki, Thalia; Marrale, Daniela; Akoumianaki, I; Dell'Anno, Antonio; Pusceddu, Antonio; Danovaro, Roberto (2000): Organic matter composition of the continental shelf and bathyal sediments of the Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean). Progress in Oceanography, 46/2-4, 311-344, doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(00)00024-0

Direitos

CC-BY: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Access constraints: unrestricted

Fonte

Supplement to: Danovaro, Roberto; Tselepides, Anastasios; Otegui, Ana; Della Croce, Norberto (2000): Dynamics of meiofaunal assemblages on the continental shelf and deep-sea sediments of the Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean): Relationships with seasonal changes in food supply. Progress in Oceanography, 46/2-4, 367-400, doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(00)00026-4

Palavras-Chave #Bact; Bact abund/sed; Bact abund std dev; Bact C; Bact C std dev; Bacteria; Bacteria, abundance, standard deviation; Bacteria, abundance per unit sediment mass; Bacteria, biomass as carbon; Bacteria, biomass as carbon, standard deviation; Bathy depth; Benthos, biomass, standard deviation; Benthos, biomass as carbon; Benthos, other; Benthos, other, standard deviation; Benthos C; Benthos C std dev; Benthos oth; Benthos oth std dev; Biomass as carbon; Biomass as carbon per individual; Biomass as carbon per individual, standard deviation; biomass bacteria/biomass meiofauna; Biom C; Biom C/ind; Biom C/ind std dev; Chl a/sed; Chl a std dev; Chlorophyll a, standard deviation; Chlorophyll a per unit sediment mass; Chloroplastic pigment equivalents; Comment; Copepoda; Copepoda, biomass, standard deviation; Copepoda, biomass as carbon; Copepoda, standard deviation; Copepoda C; Copepoda C std dev; Copepoda std dev; CPE; Cretan Sea; D1-D7; Depth; Depth, bathymetric; DEPTH, sediment/rock; HERMES; Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas; Kinorhyncha; Kinorhyncha, standard deviation; Kinorhyncha std dev; Label; Latitude; LATITUDE; Longitude; LONGITUDE; Meiof; Meiofauna; Meiofauna, abundance; Meiofauna, abundance, standard deviation; Meiofauna, biomass as carbon; Meiofauna, biomass as carbon, standard deviation; Meiof C; Meiof C std dev; Meiof std dev; Nauplii; Nauplii, standard deviation; Nauplii std dev; Nematoda; Nematoda, biomass, standard deviation; Nematoda, biomass as carbon; Nematoda, standard deviation; Nematoda biom std dev; Nematoda C; Nematoda std dev; other organism; Phaeopigments, standard deviation; Phaeopigments per unit sediment mass; Pheop/sed; Pheop std dev; Polychaeta; Polychaeta, biomass, standard deviation; Polychaeta, biomass as carbon; Polychaeta, standard deviation; Polychaeta C; Polychaeta C std dev; Polychaeta std dev; Ratio; Sample code/label; SESAME; Southern European Seas: Assessing and Modelling Ecosystem Changes; total
Tipo

Dataset