High uptake of sympagic organic matter by benthos on an Arctic outflow shelf
Cautain, Ivan J. and Last, Kim S. and Bluhm, Bodil A. and Renaud, Paul E. and McKee, David and Narayanaswamy, Bhavani E. (2024) High uptake of sympagic organic matter by benthos on an Arctic outflow shelf. PLOS One, 19 (8). e0308562. ISSN 1932-6203 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308562)
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Abstract
On Arctic shelves, benthic food-webs are tightly linked to overlying primary production. In the seasonal ice zone, sympagic (ice-associated) primary production can be a major source of carbon for the benthos on productive inflow shelves. However, the role of sympagic organic matter is less well-understood in food webs of heavily ice-covered, less- productive outflow shelves, such as the northeast Greenland shelf. Highly branched isoprenoid biomarkers (HBIs) were used to track the relative distribution of sympagic and pelagic organic matter in the water column, sediments, and benthic fauna of the northeast Greenland shelf and fjords. Low pelagic HBI presence throughout the study area indicated a generally low production by pelagic diatoms (at the time of sampling). This was reflected in the benthos, as ~90% of their assimilated carbon was estimated to come from sympagic sources, indicating a benthic food-web highly reliant on sympagic production. This reliance was higher in coastal areas than on the open shelf, where the potentially higher pelagic productivity and shallower water on banks likely increased contributions of pelagic organic matter. As declining ice cover and reduced production of fast-sinking ice algae projected for Arctic shelves will likely result in weaker coupling between ice algae and the benthos, with possible consequences for future benthic-community structure and function.
ORCID iDs
Cautain, Ivan J., Last, Kim S., Bluhm, Bodil A., Renaud, Paul E., McKee, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8023-5923 and Narayanaswamy, Bhavani E.;-
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Item type: Article ID code: 90186 Dates: DateEvent7 August 2024Published23 July 2024Accepted3 April 2024SubmittedSubjects: Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > Oceanography Department: Faculty of Science > Physics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 08 Aug 2024 15:03 Last modified: 25 Sep 2024 15:10 Related URLs: URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/90186