Affiliation:
1. Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden
2. Department of Zoology Swedish Museum of Natural History Stockholm Sweden
3. HADAL, Nordcee & DIAS, Department of Biology University of Southern Denmark Odense Denmark
4. Department of Ocean and Environmental Sciences Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology Tokyo Japan
5. Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
6. Baltic Sea Centre Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
7. Department of Environmental Sciences University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA
Abstract
ABSTRACTMeiofauna, organisms smaller than 1 mm, are the most abundant and diverse invertebrates inhabiting the world's ocean floor but their contribution to benthic oxygen demand is still poorly constrained. This knowledge is crucial for understanding seabed respiration, global marine carbon, and oxygen cycles, which are relevant to all nutrient cycling and energy flows in the ecosystem. It is common to predict meiofauna respiration based on their biomass or volume, which are difficult to quantify, and thus meiofauna are rarely included in biogeochemistry studies. In addition, it is still unknown how well the generalized allometric relations describe all meiofauna respiration. Therefore, we used a novel approach specially developed for single meiofauna respiration measurements to derive the respiration rates of 10 meiofauna groups in two marine and one brackish coastal muddy environments under oxic and hypoxic conditions, representing natural sediment conditions. Our estimates suggest that large ostracods and juveniles of macrofauna (e.g., bivalves, trumpet worms, and priapulids) had the highest individual respiration rates. Meiofauna community as a whole contributed 3–33% to sediment oxygen uptake. However, the most important contributors to the overall sediment oxygen uptake were nematodes and foraminifera which had lower respiration rates but were highly abundant. Therefore, out of more than 22 meiofauna phyla, we recommend that nematode and foraminifera respiration, which contributes 3–30% (total 3–33%) to sediment oxygen uptake, should be taken into consideration in any estimations of benthic oxygen and carbon cycles.
Funder
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
European Commission
National Science Foundation
Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
Subject
Aquatic Science,Oceanography