When the Dinner Bell Rings for Surplus food a double edged swod for Seafloor Scavengers

Surplus food can be a double-edged sword for bottom-feeders in the ocean deep, according to a new study in the April issue of Ecology. While extra nutrients give a boost to large animals on the deep sea floor, the feeding frenzy that results wreaks havoc on smaller animals in the seafloor sediment, researchers say.

Descend thousands of feet under the ocean to the deep sea floor, and you'll find a blue-black world of cold and darkness, blanketed in muddy ooze. In this world without sunlight, food is often in short supply.Animals in the deep sea survive on dead and decaying matter drifting down from above, said marine biologist Craig McClain of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. Only about 3-5% of the remains of microscopic plants and animals that feed life at shallower depths actually makes it to the deep sea floor, he explained. "If the ocean's primary production were a 5-pound bag of sugar, that would be the equivalent of a sugar packet."Collaborating with James Barry of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), McClain traveled to the deep waters off the coast of California to an area of the ocean floor that receives an additional source of food. In a steep, winding, underwater gorge known as Monterey Canyon -- similar in size to the Grand Canyon -- bottom-feeders get a boost from nutrient-rich sediments that slough off the canyon walls and collect on the canyon floor."There's typically more food available in the canyon than you would see outside the canyon," Barry explained. "The stuff that rains down from above and accumulates at the base of the cliffs isn't just mud -- it's food," McClain added. "There are tiny food particles and bacteria in the sediment."The researchers wanted to understand how the surplus food affected deep sea life on the canyon floor. Buried in the sediment and hidden from view, a diverse world of tiny marine animals -- snails, worms, crustaceans, clams, and other creatures no bigger than a pencil eraser -- live and feed in the canyon mud.To find out how these animals are affected by the boost of food, the researchers sent a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) equipped with video and sampling equipment to the base of the canyon. Piloted from a control room onboard a ship at the ocean surface, the ROV dove more than a mile to the canyon floor. As the ROV crept across the seafloor sediment, it video recorded everything in its path and pushed plastic tubes into the mud, pulling up cores of and animals and silt.When they brought the samples back to the surface, they found nearly 200 species in the sediment. But as they sampled closer to the canyon walls, they were surprised to find that despite the extra food and nutrients, the small sediment-dwellers (0.25 to 25 mm in size) became even smaller and less diverse. Why might this be?A closer look at the video footage suggests the answer lies not in the sediment, but just above. As the ROV approached the canyon walls, the researchers noticed swarms of bigger, mobile animals -- crabs, starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers and other seafloor scavengers -- crawling on the sediment surface. Normally few and far between, these animals sense that food has arrived and converge at the base of the cliffs, the researchers explained. "The cliff face becomes a smorgasbord for larger animals," said McClain.Ironically, more food for big, mobile animals on the sediment surface is bad news for smaller sediment-dwellers buried below. The larger animals devour all the food in their path as they plow across the canyon floor, wrecking habitat and leaving little for other animals to feed on. "Larger organisms come in and they churn up the sediment and eat all the food. That has big consequences for smaller animals that live there," McClain explained."The number of species near the cliff face was reduced by half compared to the middle of the canyon," said McClain. "More food isn't always better," he added.The team's findings will be published online in the April 2010 issue of Ecology.

Seabed Biodiversity of the Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage

A study of animals visible to the naked eye and living in and on the seabed -- the 'macrobenthos' -- of the Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage will help scientists understand the biodiversity, biogeography and ecology of the Magellanic region.

"The biodiversity data are from my very first oceanographic cruise with the Chilean Navy in the Magellanic region in 1997, as an early undergraduate," said Dr Sven Thatje of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton: "The beauty of this dataset is the comprehensive diversity analysis with probably more than 10 per cent of species new to science." The cruise was part of the Chilean 'Cimar Fiordo III' expedition.

The soft sediments at the seafloor were sampled at depths ranging between 35 and 571 metres using a 'box corer' lowered from the Chilean navy vessel RV Vidal Gormaz. Samples were taken within the Straits of Magellan, the seaway separating mainland South America and the islands of the Tierra Del Fuego archipelago, and the eastern part of the Beagle Channel which separates South America from Antarctica. Samples were also taken from adjacent channels and fjords, some of which had been visited for the first time ever during the cruise.

A total of 173 species or morphological variants of species were identified, including crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms. But polychaete worms, the group that includes ragworms dug by anglers for bait on sandy beeches at low tide, dominated both in terms of abundance and biomass.

At some locations the abundance of invertebrates peaked at more than 10,000 individuals per square metre, even without counting rare species that were missed or fast moving species that eluded capture. However, abundance, biomass and species richness all decreased with depth, consistent with reports from other regions such as the high Antarctic Weddell and Lazarev Seas.

The animals living at the seafloor depend for food on organic matter that rains down from the overlying ocean. "Variation in this flux of organic matter from the pelagic to the benthic is probably the major factor structuring these communities," said Dr Thatje.

It has been argued for the polychaetes of the Pacific coast of South America that shallow areas act as sources of colonisation, helping to maintain species diversity in deeper regions in the face of local extinction. "Such colonisation-extinction dynamics may also explain the patterns of diversity that we see in the Magellanic region," said Dr Thatje.

The Magellanic region was covered by ice 21,000 years ago, and the sea level was much lower than it is today. The Straits of Magellan probably did not fully open until approximately 7,000 years ago, after the ice had receded. The species now present in Magellanic waters must therefore have recolonised the region from adjacent Atlantic and Pacific areas, and indeed some of the polychaetes found in the Magellanic region are known from the Antarctic shelf.

The larvae of polychaetes can live as plankton for many months before resettling and developing into adults. "The dispersal of Antarctic species through larval transport in easterly circumpolar currents may explain their occurrence in the Magellanic region," said Dr Thatje.

The researchers are Dr Sven Thatje of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and his graduate student Alastair Brown.

Seabed Biodiversity of the Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage

A study of animals visible to the naked eye and living in and on the seabed -- the 'macrobenthos' -- of the Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage will help scientists understand the biodiversity, biogeography and ecology of the Magellanic region."The biodiversity data are from my very first oceanographic cruise with the Chilean Navy in the Magellanic region in 1997, as an early undergraduate," said Dr Sven Thatje of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton: "The beauty of this dataset is the comprehensive diversity analysis with probably more than 10 per cent of species new to science." The cruise was part of the Chilean 'Cimar Fiordo III' expedition.The soft sediments at the seafloor were sampled at depths ranging between 35 and 571 metres using a 'box corer' lowered from the Chilean navy vessel RV Vidal Gormaz. Samples were taken within the Straits of Magellan, the seaway separating mainland South America and the islands of the Tierra Del Fuego archipelago, and the eastern part of the Beagle Channel which separates South America from Antarctica. Samples were also taken from adjacent channels and fjords, some of which had been visited for the first time ever during the cruise.A total of 173 species or morphological variants of species were identified, including crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms. But polychaete worms, the group that includes ragworms dug by anglers for bait on sandy beeches at low tide, dominated both in terms of abundance and biomass.At some locations the abundance of invertebrates peaked at more than 10,000 individuals per square metre, even without counting rare species that were missed or fast moving species that eluded capture. However, abundance, biomass and species richness all decreased with depth, consistent with reports from other regions such as the high Antarctic Weddell and Lazarev Seas.The animals living at the seafloor depend for food on organic matter that rains down from the overlying ocean. "Variation in this flux of organic matter from the pelagic to the benthic is probably the major factor structuring these communities," said Dr Thatje.It has been argued for the polychaetes of the Pacific coast of South America that shallow areas act as sources of colonisation, helping to maintain species diversity in deeper regions in the face of local extinction. "Such colonisation-extinction dynamics may also explain the patterns of diversity that we see in the Magellanic region," said Dr Thatje.The Magellanic region was covered by ice 21,000 years ago, and the sea level was much lower than it is today. The Straits of Magellan probably did not fully open until approximately 7,000 years ago, after the ice had receded. The species now present in Magellanic waters must therefore have recolonised the region from adjacent Atlantic and Pacific areas, and indeed some of the polychaetes found in the Magellanic region are known from the Antarctic shelf.The larvae of polychaetes can live as plankton for many months before resettling and developing into adults. "The dispersal of Antarctic species through larval transport in easterly circumpolar currents may explain their occurrence in the Magellanic region," said Dr Thatje.The researchers are Dr Sven Thatje of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and his graduate student Alastair Brown.