Resting stages in a submarine canyon: a component of shallow-deep-sea coupling?
Della Tommasa, L.; Belmonte, G.; Palanques, A.; Puig, P.; Boero, F. (2000). Resting stages in a submarine canyon: a component of shallow-deep-sea coupling? Hydrobiologia 440(1-3): 249-260. https://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1004139715482 In: Hydrobiologia. Springer: The Hague. ISSN 0018-8158; e-ISSN 1573-5117, more Related to:Della Tommasa, L.; Belmonte, G.; Palanques, A.; Puig, P.; Boero, F. (2000). Resting stages in a submarine canyon: a component of shallow-deep-sea coupling?, in: Jones, M.B. et al. Island, Ocean and Deep-Sea Biology: Proceedings of the 34th European Marine Biology Symposium, held in Ponta Delgada (Azores), Portugal, 13-17 September 1999. Developments in Hydrobiology, 152: pp. 249-260. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1982-7_23, more | |
Keywords | Cycles > Life cycle Resting stages Topographic features > Submarine features > Submarine canyons Marine/Coastal |
Authors | | Top | - Della Tommasa, L.
- Belmonte, G., more
- Palanques, A.
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Abstract | The ecological importance of resting stages in shallow waters is well known, but their presence in the deep sea is practically unrecorded. Samples of sinking particles were collected from April 1993 to May 1994 in and around the Foix Canyon (northwest Mediterranean Sea) using PPS3 sediment traps located between -600 m and -1180 m. Dead and viable organisms were collected, and inorganic empty shells constituted most of the biologically-derived matter. Resting stages, considered as POM, had a flux of up to 70 000 items m-2 d-1. They were the second most abundant fraction of total POM after tintinnids (mainly represented by empty, chitinous loricas), and first of the viable POM fraction. Most remained unidentified, but 58 morphotypes were referable to coastal species of Dinophyta, Tintinnina and Calanoida. Resting stages were rare in samples collected from the open slope adjacent to the canyon. These preliminary data suggest an important role of submarine canyons in concentrating POM and transferring it from shallow to deep-sea habitats. Due to their resistance to degradation processes, resting stages are probably the only POM component that can return to shallow areas by upwelling currents occurring in the canyon. |
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