Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

CS04 Benthic-Pelagic Coupling: Seasonality, Pulses, and Flux

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 2:30:00 PM

Location: Mesilla

Witte, U, , Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, uwitte@mpi-bremen.de

Aberle, N, , Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, naberle@mpi-bremen.de

Boetius, A, , Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, aboetius@mpi-bremen.de

Sand, M, , Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, msand@mpi-bremen.de

Wenzhoefer , F, , Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, fwenzhoe@mpi-bremen.de

Pfannkuche, O, , GEOMAR Reseach Center, Kiel, Germany, opfannkuche@geomar.de

FAST RESPONSE OF THE DEEP-SEA BENTHOS TO AN ARTIFICIAL, 13C/15N LABELED FOOD PULSE: IN SITU EXPERIMENTS WITH BENTHIC CHAMBER LANDERS

During Poseidon cruise 260 from April to June 2000, a series of in situ enrichment experiments with 13C/15N labeled algal material was carried out with three benthic chamber landers at the BENGAL site in the deep North Atlantic (48°50‘ N; 16° 35‘ W; 4800 m). Experiments of 2.5, 8 and 25 days duration were carried out and benthic oxygen and nutrient fluxes, the activity of bacterial exoenzymes and the fate of the labeled material with respect to the entrainment into the sediment and uptake by benthic organisms were studied. Sediment community oxygen consumption doubled within a few days and remained high also during the 25 d experiments. The activity of specific enzymes rose up to 40fold. By their degree of 13C enrichment, keynote species for the rapid consumption and transport of fresh phytodetritus in the deep-sea could be identified.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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