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In situ experimental evidence of the fate of a phytodetritus pulse at the abyssal sea floor

Nature volume 424, pages 763–766 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

More than 50% of the Earth' s surface is sea floor below 3,000 m of water. Most of this major reservoir in the global carbon cycle and final repository for anthropogenic wastes is characterized by severe food limitation. Phytodetritus is the major food source for abyssal benthic communities, and a large fraction of the annual food load can arrive in pulses within a few days1,2. Owing to logistical constraints, the available data concerning the fate of such a pulse are scattered3,4 and often contradictory5,6,7,8,9,10, hampering global carbon modelling and anthropogenic impact assessments. We quantified (over a period of 2.5 to 23 days) the response of an abyssal benthic community to a phytodetritus pulse, on the basis of 11 in situ experiments. Here we report that, in contrast to previous hypotheses5,6,7,8,9,10,11, the sediment community oxygen consumption doubled immediately, and that macrofauna were very important for initial carbon degradation. The retarded response of bacteria and Foraminifera, the restriction of microbial carbon degradation to the sediment surface, and the low total carbon turnover distinguish abyssal from continental-slope ‘deep-sea’ sediments.

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Figure 1: Response of different benthic compartments to POM enrichment.
Figure 2: Pathways of 13C labelled phytodetritus through the benthic community with time.
Figure 3: Vertical distribution of several quantities within the sediment.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the officers, crew and shipboard scientific party of RV Poseidon for their support at sea during the expedition POS 260/1-5, and M. Poser, W. Queisser, S. Meyer and V. Meyer for technical assistance with the lander systems. We also thank F. Lipschultz and U. Struck for help with isotope ratio measurements of macrofauna and Foraminifera, and K. Smith for review. This work was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung as part of the BIGSET programme.

Author information

Author notes

  1. F. Wenzhöfer

    Present address: Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, DK-3000, Helsingør, Denmark

  2. A. Boetius

    Present address: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

  3. N. Aberle

    Present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Limnology, Post Box 165, 24302, Plön, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    U. Witte, F. Wenzhöfer, A. Boetius, N. Aberle, M. Sand & B. B. Jørgensen

  2. GEOMAR Research Center, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    S. Sommer, A. Cremer & O. Pfannkuche

  3. Institute of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Sigwartstrasse 10, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    P. Heinz

  4. Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung, Mascheroder Weg 1, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    W.-R. Abraham

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Correspondence to U. Witte.

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Witte, U., Wenzhöfer, F., Sommer, S. et al. In situ experimental evidence of the fate of a phytodetritus pulse at the abyssal sea floor. Nature 424, 763–766 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01799

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