The discovery of a natural whale fall in the Antarctic deep sea

Amon, Diva J.; Glover, Adrian G.; Wiklund, Helena; Marsh, Leigh; Linse, Katrin; Rogers, Alex D.; Copley, Jonathan T.

doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.01.028

Cited by 59 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Since then, either natural or artificially implanted deep-sea whale-falls have been studied in the NE and NW Pacific (e.g., Braby, Rouse, Johnson, Jones, & Vrijenhoek, 2007;Fujiwara et al, 2007;Lundsten, Paull, Schlining, Mcgann, & Ussler, 2010) and in the Southern Ocean (Amon et al, 2013) but never in the Atlantic Ocean. Our results, in line with those of previous studies (Wiklund et al, 2012;Taboada et al, 2013), show that when new sites are investigated the species diversity within Ophryotrocha rises substantially and new insights into species biogeography are revealed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

First account on the diversity ofOphryotrocha(Annelida, Dorvilleidae) from a mammal-fall in the deep-Atlantic Ocean with the description of three new species

Ravara

Marçal

Wiklund

et al. 2015

Systematics and Biodiversity

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Annelids of the genus Ophryotrocha are globally distributed in a wide variety of organically enriched habitats. Although mostly known from shallow water, the expansion of deep-sea research revealed several new Ophryotrocha species mainly associated with organic-falls, in particular with cetacean carcasses, or whale-falls. Despite the great deal of interest that fauna associated with whale-falls have attracted, very little is known about this fauna in the deep-Atlantic Ocean. Hereby we analyse, for the first time, the Ophryotrocha assemblage associated with a mammal-fall in this region of the world's ocean. Specimens were collected from the bones of degrading cow carcasses deployed in the Set ubal canyon at approximately 1000 m depth. Using morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses based on the nuclear gene H3 performed on 31 Ophryotrocha species, we report the presence of five different species, we describe three new species and extend the distribution of O. scutella. Ophryotrocha scutella was previously known from a shallow-water whale-fall and organically enriched sediments beneath a fish farm off Scandinavia and is the first species to be reported from organic-falls in both shallow and deep waters. The presence of five congeners emphasize the importance of the genus Ophryotrocha in the degradation of organic matter in the deep-sea. Our results substantially increase the number of deep Atlantic species in the genus Ophryotrocha and highlight the remarkable unknown diversity and biogeographic patterns hidden behind unstudied deep-sea habitats.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A12699DA-E580-4782-941A-48D7B31E4DAE

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

First account on the diversity ofOphryotrocha(Annelida, Dorvilleidae) from a mammal-fall in the deep-Atlantic Ocean with the description of three new species

Ravara

Marçal

Wiklund

et al. 2015

Systematics and Biodiversity

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…), a geochemical sea floor analysis, and the lack of hydroacoustically detectable gas emissions. Apart from at this single extinct cold seep site, naturally occurring chemosynthetic organisms 5 have also been found in the Southern Ocean at hydrothermal vents in the Bransfield Straight 6,7 and the South Sandwich back-arc 8 , and at a whale fall from the Kemp Caldera 9 . The paucity 50 of records of chemosynthesis-based communities in the Southern Oceans can be partly explained by a lack of exploration, due to the challenging and remote conditions in this region 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First evidence of widespread active methane seepage in the Southern Ocean, off the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia

Römer

Torres

Kasten

et al. 2014

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

25A new extensive submarine cold-seep area was discovered on the northern shelf of South Georgia during R/V Polarstern cruise ANT-XXIX/4 in spring 2013. Hydroacoustic surveys and video-based sea floor observations documented the presence of 133 individual gas bubble emissions, which were restricted to glacially-formed fjords and troughs. Effective methane transport from these emissions into the hydrosphere was proven by relative enrichments of dissolved methane in near-bottom 30 waters. Stable carbon isotopic signatures of the methane pointed to a predominant microbial origin.Although known from many continental margins in the world's oceans, this is the first report of an active area of methane seepage in the Southern Ocean. Our finding of substantial methane emission related to a trough and fjord system, a topographical setting that exists commonly in glaciallyaffected areas, opens up the possibility that methane seepage is a more widespread phenomenon in 35 polar and sub-polar regions than previously thought.

show abstract

“…A whale carcass on a seabed provides a massive feast for other organisms, and sea floor feeding and dismantling of a carcass by macro-and micro-scavengers and carnivores has been observed and studied in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, deep-sea Antarctic, and other internal seas (Fujioka et al, 1993;Bennett et al, 1994;Wada et al, 1994;Smith et al, 2002Smith et al, , 2015Smith and Baco, 2003;Goffredi et al, 2004;Fujiwara et al, 2007;Lundsten et al, 2010aLundsten et al, , 2010bAmon et al, 2013;Linse et al 2014;Smith et al, 2014;Sumida et al, 2016). The area around a decaying carcass becomes a specialized, if temporary ecosystem rich in organic matter and sulfides, a kind of "habitat island" on the seafloor (Smith et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The early Pleistocene whale-fall community of Bargiano (Umbria, Central Italy): Paleoecological insights from benthic foraminifera and brachyuran crabs

Baldanza

Bizzarri

Famiani³

et al. 2018

Palaeontol electronic

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The discovery of a natural whale fall in the Antarctic deep sea

Cited by 59 publications

References 48 publications

First account on the diversity ofOphryotrocha(Annelida, Dorvilleidae) from a mammal-fall in the deep-Atlantic Ocean with the description of three new species

First account on the diversity ofOphryotrocha(Annelida, Dorvilleidae) from a mammal-fall in the deep-Atlantic Ocean with the description of three new species

First evidence of widespread active methane seepage in the Southern Ocean, off the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia

The early Pleistocene whale-fall community of Bargiano (Umbria, Central Italy): Paleoecological insights from benthic foraminifera and brachyuran crabs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About