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Trophic relationships of hydrothermal vent and non-vent communities in the upper sublittoral and upper bathyal zones off Kueishan Island, Taiwan: a combined morphological, gut content analysis and stable isotope approach

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Abstract

This study used morphological, gut content analysis and carbon- and nitrogen-stable isotope analysis to investigate the trophic structure of upper sublittoral (15–30 m deep) and upper bathyal (200–300 m deep) hydrothermal vents and the adjacent non-vent upper bathyal environment off Kueishan Island. The sublittoral vents host no chemosynthetic fauna, but green and red algae, epibiotic biofilm on crustacean surfaces, and zooplankton form the base of the trophic system. Suspension-feeding sea anemones and the generalist omnivorous vent crab Xenograpsus testudinatus occupy higher trophic levels. The upper bathyal hydrothermal vent is a chemoautotrophic-based system. The vent mussel Bathymodiolus taiwanensis forms a chemosynthetic component of this trophic system. Bacterial biofilm, surface plankton, and algae form the other dietary fractions of the upper bathyal fauna. The vent hermit crab Paragiopagurus ventilatus and the vent crab X. testudinatus are generalist omnivores. The vent-endemic tonguefish Symphurus multimaculatus occupies the top level of the trophic system. The adjacent non-vent upper bathyal region contains decapod crustaceans, which function as either predators or scavengers. The assemblages of X. testudinatus from sublittoral and upper bathyal vents exhibited distinct stable isotope values, suggesting that they feed on different food sources. The upper bathyal Xenograpsus assemblages displayed large variations in their stable isotope values and exhibited an ontogenetic shift in their δ13C and δ15N stable isotope signatures. Some individuals of Xenograpsus exhibited δ15N values close to those of non-vent species, suggesting that the highly mobile Xenograpsus may transfer energy between the upper bathyal hydrothermal vents and the adjacent non-vent upper bathyal environment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, a Career Development Award from Academia Sinica, and the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, R.O.C. The authors would like to thank the GNS laboratory, New Zealand, for analysing the stable isotope values of the samples. The authors would like to thank Chen I-Han and Chen Hsi-Nien (Academia Sinica) for supporting the field work in upper sublittoral vents, as well as the commercial trawler Jin Tong Long No. 26 for supporting the trawling surveys. Thanks are extended to Coralia V. Garcia, Wallace Academic Editing, Taiwan, for editing the English of the present paper. We would like to thank the four anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor, Prof. Chris Harrod for their constructive comments, which greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung, 20224, Taiwan, ROC

    Teng-Wei Wang & Tin-Yam Chan

  2. Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung, 20224, Taiwan, ROC

    Tin-Yam Chan

  3. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan, ROC

    Benny K. K. Chan

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Wang, TW., Chan, TY. & Chan, B.K.K. Trophic relationships of hydrothermal vent and non-vent communities in the upper sublittoral and upper bathyal zones off Kueishan Island, Taiwan: a combined morphological, gut content analysis and stable isotope approach. Mar Biol 161, 2447–2463 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2479-6

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