Meiofauna and the structure of the benthic community in the Iberian deep sea basin

1. On the cruises 3 and 15 of R.V. "Meteor" 6 grab samples, and 6 hauls with the 6 m Agassiztrawl were taken and at 2 stations the deep sea camera was lowered. This material gave quantitative results on the meiofauna and minimum counts of the macrofauna. 2. The nematodes constitute nearly 95% of the meiofauna, the copepoda only 2%. With increasing sediment depth the density of animals decrease gradually. In the uppermost centimeter of sediment 42.6% of the meiofauna are found while only 3.7% live in layer 6-7 cm. Meiofauna weight ranges from 0.6-5.7 mg/25 m**2 surface i.e. 0.24-2.8 g/m**2. 3. Mean numbers of individuals and weights show standard errors of 20-30 %. As an approximate average values for further considerations the weight of the meiofauna in the area was taken as 1 g/m**2 4. Quantitative information on the macrofauna is derived from the trawls and the photographs for the actinia Chitonanthus abyssorum only, which is found in the rate of 1 individual/36-72 m**2, but seems to be less abundant generally. 5. Animal density does not decrease steadily from nearshore to offshore biocoenoses, i.e. generally with increasing depth. The decrease is more pronounced for macro- than for meiofauna. For the deep sea the weight proportion of macrofauna : meiofauna is of the order of 1 : 1. 6. With the assumption, that adaptation of metabolism to deep sea conditions is similar in macro- and meiofauna total metabolism of invertebrates is ascribed to meiofauna to more than 80%. 7. The structure of the biocoenosis of the deep sea floor is characterized by the meiofauna living on and in the sediment and by the dominance of sediment feeders in the macrofauna. 8. Considering the large numbets and high partition rates of bacteria a comparative large part of the metabolism in the deep sea sediment must be ascribed to bacteria. This favours the hypothesis, that with increasing depth and decreasing addition of organic material to the sediment, the importance of meiofauna and microorganisms for total metabolism increases. 9. Considering the different modes of food transport to the deep sea environment, i.e. sinking of dead particles, transport by vertical migration of organisms, aggregation of organic particles, adsorption of dissoloved organic substance to inorganic particles, and heterotrophy, the sediment may be assumed to contain more food for invertebrates than the water above the bottom. 10. Suspensions feeders of macrofauna are fixed to hard substrates in the sediment surface. Some of them are shown to bend themselves down to the bottom in underwater photographs. This suggests the idea that some deep sea suspension feeders partly depend on food from the sediment surface, on which they feed directly.

Mesozooplankton in Bornholm Basin, Baltic Sea

The seasonal vertical distribution of mesozooplankton was investigated in the Bornholm Basin in October 1988, July 1991 and April 1992 by means of horizontal tows using a small net with a mesh size of 47 micrometers. This study shows that the vertical distribution of multivoltine copepods is linked with ontogeny and may also change seasonally, even in shallow areas such as the Baltic. Trends between copepod species, stages and seasons were discovered. Secondly, the correlation was investigated between the vertical mesozooplankton distribution on the one hand and chlorophyll a concentration and the density of medusae and fish larvae on the other hand. In several cases the comparison of the shape of the profiles led to greater differentiation than the coefficient of correlation. The abundances found allowed only scant statements about non-copepod taxa.

Sea surface temperatures, alkenones and sedimentation rates at the Alboran basin

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) recorded by alkenones and oxygen isotopes in the Alboran basin are used here to describe, at an unprecedented fine temporal resolution, the present interglaciation (PIG, initiated at 11.7 ka BP), the last interglaciation (LIG, onset approximately at 129 ka) and respective deglaciations. Similarities and dissimilarities in the progression of these periods are reviewed in comparison with ice cores and stalagmites. Cold spells coeval with the Heinrich events (H) described in the North Atlantic include multi-decadal scale oscillations not previously obvious (up to 4 °C in less than eight centuries within the stadials associated with H1 and H11, ca 133 ka and 17 ka respectively). These abrupt oscillations precede the accumulation of organic rich layers deposited when perihelion moves from alignment with NH spring equinox to the summer solstice, a reference for deglaciations. Events observed during the last deglaciation at 17 ka, 14.8 ka and 11.7 ka are reminiscent of events occurred during the penultimate deglaciation at ca 136 ka, 132 ka and 129 ka, respectively. The SST trend during the PIG is no more than 2 °C (from 20 °C to 18 °C; up to ?0.2 °C/ka). The trend is steeper during the LIG, i.e. up to a 5 °C change from the early interglaciation to immediately before the glacial inception (from 23 °C to 18 °C; up to -0.4 °C/ka). Events are superimposed upon a long term trend towards colder SSTs, beginning with SST maxima followed by temperate periods until perihelion aligned with the NH autumn equinox (before ca 5.3 ka for the PIG and 121 ka for the LIG). A cold spell of around eight centuries at 2.8 ka during the PIG was possibly mimicked during the LIG at ca 118 ka by a SST fall of around 1 °C in a millennium. These events led interglacial SST to stabilise at around 18 °C. The glacial inception, barely evident at the beginning ca 115 ka (North Atlantic event C25, after perihelion passage in the NH winter solstice), culminated with a SST drop of at least 2 °C in two millennia (event C24, ca 111 ka). The Little Ice Age (0.7 ka) also occurred after the latest perihelion passage in the NH winter solstice and could be an example of how a glacial pre-inception event following an interglaciation might be.