MARE 444

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Deep Blue Sea
MARE 444 Dr. Jason Turner
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A Typical Abyssal-Plain
Pressure Temperature Salinity Dissolved
02 Light Current Speed Sediment
Type Deposition Rate Organic Content
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Sediments Defining Habitats
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Deep Sea Sediments
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Itchy and Patchy
Creates Patchy Environments Modification of
Sediment by Burrowers Currents Disturb
Sediments Organic Material Distributed
Discontinuously Dispersal and Recruitment of
Larvae
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Distribution of Plankton Communities
Plankton are extremely patchymore
frequently together than expected by chance
Net tow 1 2 3 4
Why? 1) Spatial changes in physical conditions
(T, S, Light) 2) Current transport water
turbulence (Langmuir converg) 3) Grazing activity
(or lack of) 4) Localized reproduction 5) Social
aggregating behavior (Deep scattering layer)
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Factors Limiting Ocean Nutrients
1. Nutrient content not constant 2. Production
reduced at depth 3. Organisms reduce water
volume 4. Nutrients absorbed by other autotrophs
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Succession, Youre My Succession
Succession -
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Deep Sea Food Webs
Deep Sea is removed from the photosynthetic
zone No primary production except where
Chemosynthetic bacteria are found
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Hydrothermal Vent Communities
Water rising directly to the surface from hot
subsurface rock can reach 400ºC Black
Smoker few macrofauna in smoker
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Hydrothermal Vents
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Hydrothermal Vent Communities
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Hydrothermal Vent Communities
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Cold Seep Communities
Vents cooler fluids 40-75ºC Different species
composition mollusks, pogonophoran worms, sponges
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Cold Seep Communities
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Outside Food Sources of the Deep Sea
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Outside Food Sources of the Deep Sea
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Cetacean Doggy-Bags?
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Cetacean Utilization
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Are You Ready For A New Succession, New Succession
To evaluate faunal succession and persistence
times Conduct time-series studies of implanted
whale carcasses Indicate that whale-fall
communities pass through three successional
stages (4 m to gt1.5 yrs) Necrophages
(hagfish, lysianassid amphipods, macrourid fish,
sleeper sharks) remove most soft tissue
surrounding sediments are heavily colonized by
newly discovered polychaetes, gastropods and
bivalves containing gt200 macrofaunal species,
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Benthic Sampling 101
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Benthic Sampling 201
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Benthic Sampling 601