This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Danovaro, R. et al. Ecological variables for developing a global deep-ocean monitoring and conservation strategy. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 4, 181–192 (2020).
Appeltans, W. et al. The magnitude of global marine species diversity. Curr. Biol. 22, 2189–2202 (2012).
Sogin, M. L. et al. Microbial diversity in the deep sea and the underexplored ‘rare biosphere’. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 12115–12120 (2006).
Zeppilli, D. et al. Characteristics of meiofauna in extreme marine ecosystems: a review. Mar. Biodivers. 48, 35–71 (2018).
Corinaldesi, C. New perspectives in benthic deep-sea microbial ecology. Front. Mar. Sci. 2, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00017 (2015).
Boeuf, D. et al. Biological composition and microbial dynamics of sinking particulate organic matter at abyssal depths in the oligotrophic open ocean. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 11824–11832 (2019).
López-García, P., Rodríguez-Valera, F., Pedrós-Alió, C. & Moreira, D. Unexpected diversity of small eukaryotes in deep-sea Antarctic plankton. Nature 409, 603–607 (2001).
Schoenle, A., Nitsche, F., Werner, J. & Arndt, H. Deep-sea ciliates: recorded diversity and experimental studies on pressure tolerance. Deep Sea Res. Pt I 128, 55–66 (2017).
Turley, C. Bacteria in the cold deep-sea benthic boundary layer and sediment—water interface of the NE Atlantic. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 33, 89–99 (2000).
Wei, C.-L. et al. Global patterns and predictions of seafloor biomass using random forests. PLoS ONE 5, e15323 (2010).
Giere, O. Meiobenthology: The Microscopic Motile Fauna of Aquatic Sediments 2nd edn (Springer, 2009).
Fenchel, T. Ecology of Protozoa: The Biology of Free-Living Phagotropic Protists (Springer, 2013).
Glud, R. N. Oxygen dynamics of marine sediments. Mar. Biol. Res. 4, 243–289 (2008).
Nascimento, F. J. A., Naslund, J. & Elmgren, R. Meiofauna enhances organic matter mineralization in soft sediment ecosystems. Limnol. Oceanogr. 57, 338–346 (2012).
Bonaglia, S., Nascimento, F. J. A., Bartoli, M., Klawonn, I. & Brüchert, V. Meiofauna increases bacterial denitrification in marine sediments. Nat. Commun. 5, 5133 (2014).
Sutherland, W. J., Pullin, A. S., Dolman, P. M. & Knight, T. M. The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19, 305–308 (2004).
Balsamo, M., Semprucci, F., Frontalini, F. & Coccioni, R. in Marine Ecosystems (ed. Cruzado, A.) 77–104 (InTech, 2012).
Schratzberger, M. & Ingels, J. Meiofauna matters: the roles of meiofauna in benthic ecosystems. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 502, 12–25 (2018).
Zeppilli, D. et al. Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts? Mar. Biodivers. 45, 505–535 (2015).
Carugati, L., Corinaldesi, C., Dell’Anno, A. & Danovaro, R. Metagenetic tools for the census of marine meiofaunal biodiversity: an overview. Mar. Genom. 24, 11–20 (2015).
Danovaro, R. et al. Implementing and innovating marine monitoring approaches for assessing marine environmental status. Front. Mar. Sci. 3, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00213 (2016).
Dell’Anno, A., Carugati, L., Corinaldesi, C., Riccioni, G. & Danovaro, R. Unveiling the biodiversity of deep-sea nematodes through metabarcoding: are we ready to bypass the classical taxonomy? PLoS ONE 10, e0144928 (2015).
Kitahashi, T., Watanabe, H. K., Tsuchiya, M., Yamamoto, H. & Yamamoto, H. A new method for acquiring images of meiobenthic images using the FlowCAM. MethodsX 5, 1330–1335 (2018).
Pawlowski, J., Esling, P., Lejzerowicz, F., Cedhagen, T. & Wilding, T. A. Environmental monitoring through protist next-generation sequencing metabarcoding: assessing the impact of fish farming on benthic foraminifera communities. Mol. Ecol. Resour. 14, 1129–1140 (2014).
Bik, H. M. et al. Sequencing our way towards understanding global eukaryotic biodiversity. Trends Ecol. Evol. 27, 233–243 (2012).
Fenchel, T. The ecology of marine microbenthos IV. Structure and function of the benthic ecosystem, its chemical and physical factors and the microfauna commuities with special reference to the ciliated protozoa. Ophelia 6, 1–182 (1969).
Worden, A. Z. et al. Rethinking the marine carbon cycle: factoring in the multifarious lifestyles of microbes. Science 347, 1257594 (2015).
Gooday, A. J., Schoenle, A., Dolan, J. R. & Arndt, H. Protist diversity and function in the dark ocean—challenging the paradigms of deep-sea ecology with special emphasis on foraminiferans and naked protists. Eur. J. Protistol. 75, 125721 (2020).
Schoenle, A. et al. Methodological studies on estimates of abundance and diversity of heterotrophic flagellates from the deep-sea floor. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 4, 22 (2016).
Lecroq, B. et al. Ultra-deep sequencing of foraminiferal microbarcodes unveils hidden richness of early monothalamous lineages in deep-sea sediments. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 13177–13182 (2011).
Acknowledgements
H.A. was supported by the German Research Foundation (grant numbers AR 288/23, MerMet 17-97 and MerMet 71-11). We thank R. Danovaro et al. for an open exchange of ideas during the preparation of this Matters Arising.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
J.I., D.Z. and A.V. initiated the Matters Arising. J.I. led the writing and all authors contributed to the writing and the development of the Matters Arising and its final form. J.I. produced the final agreed edited version.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ingels, J., Vanreusel, A., Pape, E. et al. Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 27–29 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01335-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01335-6
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Microbe-driven elemental cycling enables microbial adaptation to deep-sea ferromanganese nodule sediment fields
Microbiome (2023)
-
A review of megafauna diversity and abundance in an exploration area for polymetallic nodules in the eastern part of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (North East Pacific), and implications for potential future deep-sea mining in this area
Marine Biodiversity (2023)
-
Reply to: Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation
Nature Ecology & Evolution (2020)