Benthic Secondary Production in the Deep Sea

  • J. D. Gage
Chapter
Part of the NATO ASI Series book series (ASIC, volume 360)

Abstract

Production in populations of deep-sea macrobenthic protobranch bivalves in the Rockall Trough (N.E. Atlantic) are estimated from demographic models developed primarily from tracking recruitment modes in size frequencies in an epibenthic-sled time-series from a 2.9-km-deep Permanent Station, and corroborated from other data. P/B ratios for 4 bivalve-community dominants range from 0.49 to 1.65, which fall within the range of inshore protobranchs. Their combined production (114.9 mg wet weight m-2 yr-1), however, is less than half that predicted (363 mg wet weight m-2 yr-l) from relationships established empirically in a large data set from the continental shelf. Total nonforaminiferal macrobenthoscommunity production equivalent to 122 mg organic carbon is tentatively extrapolated from the bivalve data based on the mean P/B of 0.98. This value for somatic production represents around 3 to 12% of estimated total respiratory carbon uptake of the sediment community for this depth, indicating that secondary production by macrobenthos is a small but non-trivial component of carbon consumption and turnover at the floor of the deep ocean.

Keywords

Marine Biology Secondary Production Size Frequency Demographic Model Macrobenthic Community 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Allen, K.R. (1951) The Horokiwi Stream, Fisheries Bulletin, New Zealand Marine Department, 10, 1–238.Google Scholar
  2. Allen, K.R. (1971) Relation between production and biomass, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 28, 1573–1581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Banse, K. and Mosher, S. (1980). Adult body mass and annual production/biomass relationships of field populations, Ecological Monographs, 50, 355–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Barry, J.P. and Tegner, M.J. (1989) Inferring demographic processes from size-frequency distributions: simple models indicate specific patterns of growth and mortality, Fishery Bulletin, 88, 13–19.Google Scholar
  5. Basson, M., Rosenberg, A.A. and Beddington, J.R. (1988) The accuracy and reliability of two new methods for estimating growth parameters from length-frequency data, Journal du Conseil, 44, 277–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Beamish, R.J. and Chilton, D.E. (1982) Preliminary evaluation of a method to determine the age of sablefish (Anopoploma fimbria), Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 39, 277–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Bennett, J.T., Boehlert, G.W. and Turekian, K.K. (1982) Confirmation of longevity in Sebastes diploproa (Pisces: Scorpaenidae) from 210Pb/226Ra meausurements in otoliths, Marine Biology, 71, 209–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Benke, A.C. (1979) A modification of the Hynes method for estimating secondary production with particular significance for multivoltine populations, Limnology and Oceanography, 24, 171–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Bergstad, O.A. (1990) Distribution, population structure, growth and reproduction of the roundnose grenadier, Coryphaenoides rupestris (Pisces, Macrouridae) in the deep waters of the Skagerrak, Marine Biology, 107, 25–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Bishop, J.D.D. (1982) The growth, development and reproduction of a deep-sea cumacean (Crustacea: Peracarida), Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 74, 359–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Brey, T. (1986a) Estimation of annual PIB-ratio and production of marine benthic invertebrates from length-frequency data, Ophelia (Supplement), 4, 45–54.Google Scholar
  12. Brey, T. (l986b) Formalin and formaldehyde-depot chemicals: effects on dry weight and ashfree dry weight of two marine bivalve species, Meeresforschung, 31, 52–57.Google Scholar
  13. Brey, T. (1990a) Confidence limits for secondary production estimates: application of the bootstrap to the increment summation method, Marine Biology, 106, 503–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Brey, T. (1990b) Estimating productivity of macrobenthic invertebrates from biomass and mean individual weight, Meeresforschung, 32, 329–343.Google Scholar
  15. Brey, T., Arntz, W.E., Pauly, D. and Rumohr, H. (1990) Artica (Cyprina) islandica in Kiel Bay (Western Baltic): growth, production and ecological significance, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 136, 217–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Buchanan, J.B. and Warwick, R.M. (1974) An estimate of benthic macrofaunal production in the offshore mud of the Northumberland coast, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 54, 197–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Campana, S.E., Zwanenburg, K.C.T. and Smith, J.N. (1989). 210Pb/226Ra determinations of longevity in red fish, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 47, 163–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Cassie, R. M., (1954) Some uses of probability paper in the analysis of size frequency distributions, Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 5, 513–522.Google Scholar
  19. Caswell, H. (1982) Life history theory and the eqüilibrium status of populations, American Naturalist, 120, 317–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Caswell, H. (1989) Matrix population models: construction, analysis, and interpretation, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
  21. Cederwall, H. (1977) Annual macrofauna production of a soft bottom in the northern Baltic proper, in B.F. Keegan, P.O. O’Ceidigh, P.O. and P.J.S. Boaden (eds.), Biology of Benthic Organisms, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 155–164.Google Scholar
  22. Childress, J.J., Cowles, D.L., Favuzzi, J.A. and Mickel, T.J. (1990) Metabolic rates of benthic deep-sea decapod crustaceans decline with increasing depth primarily due to decline in temperature, Deep-Sea Research, 37A, 929–949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Clarke, A. (1987) Temperature, latitude and reproductive effort, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 38, 89–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Crisp, D.J. (1984) Energy flow measurements, in N.A. Holme, and A.D. McIntyre (eds.), Methods for the Study of Marine Benthos, 2nd ed., Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp.284–372.Google Scholar
  25. Cushman, R.M., Shugart, H.H., Hildebrand, S.G. and Elwood, J.W. (1978) The effect of growth curve and sampling regime on instaneous-growth, removal-summation, and Hynes/Hamilton estimates of aquatic insect production: a computer simulation, Limnology and Oceanography, 23, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Dickie, L.M., Kerr, S.R. and Boudreau, P.R. (1987) Size-dependent processes underlying regularities in ecosystem structure, Ecological Monographs, 57, 233–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Duco, A. & Roux, M. (1981) Modalites particulieres de croissance liees au milieu abyssal chez les Bathycrinidae (Echinodermes, Crinoides pedoncules), Oceanologica Acta, 4, 389–393.Google Scholar
  28. Edgar, G.J. (1990) The use of the size structure of benthic macrofaunal communities to estimate faunal biomass and secondary production, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 137, 195–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Ettershank, G. (1984) A new approach to the assessment of longevity in the Antarctic krill Euphasia superba, Journal of Crustacean Biology, 4, (Spec. No. 1), 295–305.Google Scholar
  30. Farran, G.P. (1924) Seventh report on the fishes of the Irish Atlantic slope. The macrourid fishes Coryphaenoididae), Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 36B(8), 9–143.Google Scholar
  31. Fournier, D.A. and Breen, P.A. (1983) Estimation of abalone mortality rates with growth analysis, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 112, 403–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Fournier, D.A., Sibert, J.R., Majkowski, J. and Hampton, J. (1990) MULTIFAN a liklihoodbased method for estimating growth parameters and age composition from multiple length frequency data sets illustrated using data for southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 47, 301–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Gage, J.D. (1977) Structure of the abyssal macrobenthic community in the Rockall Trough, in B.F. Keegan, P.O. O’Ceidigh, P.O. and P.J.S. Boaden (eds.), Biology of Benthic Organisms, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 247–260.Google Scholar
  34. Gage, J.D. (1986) The analysis of population dynamics in deep-sea benthos, in P.E. Gibbs (ed.), Proceedings of the Nineteenth European Marine Biology Symposium, Cambridge University Press, pp.201–212.Google Scholar
  35. Gage, J.D. (1987) Growth of the deep-sea irregular sea urchins Echinosigra phiale and Hemiaster expergitus in the Rockall Trough (N.E. Atlantic Ocean), Marine Biology, 96, 19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Gage, J.D. (1990a). Annual and interannual changes in benthic populations in the Rockall Trough, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 70, 671 (abstract).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Gage, J.D. (1990b) Skeletal growth markers in the deep-sea brittle stars Ophiur ljungmani and Ophiomusium lymani, Marine Biology, 104, 427–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Gage, J.D. Skeletal growth zones as age markers in the sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris, Marine Biology (in press).Google Scholar
  39. Gage, J.D. and Tyler, P.A. (1981) Re-appraisal of age composition, growth and survivorship of the deep-sea brittle star Ophiura ljungmani from size structure in a sample time series from the Rockall Trough, Marine Biology, 64, 163–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Gage, J.D. and Tyler, P.A. (1985) Growth and recruitment of the deep-sea uchin Echinus ajfinis, Marine Biology, 90, 41–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Gooday, A.J. and Turley, C.M. (1990) Response by benthic organisms to inputs of organic material to the ocean floor: a review, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 331, 119–138.Google Scholar
  42. Grant, A., Morgan, P.J. and Olive, P.J.W. (1987) Use made in marine ecology of methods for estimating demographic parameters from size/frequency data, Marine Biology, 95, 201–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Grant, A. (1989) The use of graphical methods to estimate demographic parameters, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 69, 367–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Hamilton, A.L. (1969) On estimating annual production, Limnology and Oceanography, 14, 771–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Harding, J.P. (1949) The use of probability paper for the graphical analysis of polymodal frequency distributions, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 28, 141–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Harrison, K. (1988) Seasonal reproduction in deep-sea Crustacea (Isopoda: Asellota), Journal of Natural History, 22, 175–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Heip, C., Herman, P.M.J. and Coodmans, A. (1982) The productivity of marine meiobenthos, Academiae Analecta, 44, 1–20.Google Scholar
  48. Hynes, H.B.N. and Colman, M.J. (1968) A simple method for assessing the annual production of stream benthos, Limnology and Oceanography, 13, 569–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Ingram, C. and Hessler, R.R. (1987) Population biology of the deep-sea amphipod Eurythenesgryllus: inferences from instar analysis, Deep-Sea Research, 34A, 1889–1907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Kimmerer, W.J. (1987) The theory of secondary production calculations for continuously reproducing populations, Limnology and Oceanography, 32, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Krueger, C.C. and Martin, F.B. (1980) Computation of confidence intervals for the sizefrequency (Hynes) method of estimating secondary production. Limnology and Oceanography, 25, 773–777CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Lampitt, R.S. (1990) Directly measured rapid growth of a deep-sea barnacle, Nature, 345, 805–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Lapchin, L. and Neveu, A. (1980) The production of benthic invertebrates: comparison of different methods, Acta Oecologica, 1, 307–322.Google Scholar
  54. Levin, L.A. and Huggett, D.V. (1990) Implications of alternative reproductive modes for seasonality and demography in an estuarine polychaete, Ecology, 71, 2191–2208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Lightfoot, R., Tyler, P.A. and Gage, J.D. (1979) Seasonal reproduction in deep-sea bivalves and brittlestars, Deep-Sea Research, 26A, 967–973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Macdonald, P.D.M. and Pitcher, T.J. (1979) Age-groups from size-frequency data: a versatile and efficient method of analyzing distribution mixtures, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 36, 987–1001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Mann, K.H. (1969) The dynamics of aquatic ecosystems, Advances in Ecological Research, 6, 1–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Menzie, C.A. (1980) A note on the Hynes method of estimating secondary production, Limnology and Oceanography, 25, 770–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Nicol, S. (1987) Some limitations on the use of lipofuscin ageing method, Marine Biology, 93, 609–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Nichols, F.H., (1975) Dynamics and energetics of three deposit-feeding benthic invertebrate populations in Puget Sound, Washington, Ecological Monographs, 45, 57–82.Google Scholar
  61. Pauly, D. (1987) A review of the ELEFAN system for analysis oflength frequency data in fish and aquatic invertebrates, in D. Pauly and G.R. Morgan (eds.), Length-Based Methods in Fisheries esearch, ICLARM Conference Proceedings, 13, Manila.Google Scholar
  62. Peer, D.C. (1970) Relation between biomass, productivity, and loss to predators in a population of a marine benthic polychaete, Pectinararia hyberborea, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 27, 2143–2153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Petersen, G.H. and Curtis, M.A. (1980) Differences in energy flow through major components of subarctic, temperate and tropical marine shelf ecosystems, Dana, 1, 53–64.Google Scholar
  64. Rachor, E. (1976) Structure, dynamics and productivity of a population of Nucula nitosa (Bivalvia, Protobranchiata) in the German Bight, Bericht der Deutchen Wissenschaftlichen Kommision fur Meeresforchung, 24, 296–331.Google Scholar
  65. Rannou, M. (1975) Donnees nouvelles sur l’activite reproductive cycliques des poissons benthique bathyaux et abyssaux, Compte rendu hebdomadaire des seances de l’Academie dessciences, Paris, 281, Serie D, 1023–1025.Google Scholar
  66. Rannou, M. (1976) Age et croissance d’un poisson bathyal: Nezumia sclerorhynchus (Macrouridae Gadiforme) de la Mer d’Alboran, Cahiers de Biologie Marin, 17, 413–421.Google Scholar
  67. Rhoads, D.C., Lutz, R.A., Cerrato, R.M. and Revalas, E.C. (1982) Growth and predation activity at deep-sea hydrothennal vents along the Galapgos Rift, Journal of Marine Science, 40, 503–516.Google Scholar
  68. Rigler, F.H. and Downing, J.A. (1984) The calculation of secondary production, in J.A. Downing and F.H. Rigler (eds.), Secondary Productivity in Fresh Waters, IBP Handbook No. 17, 2nd ed., Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 19–58.Google Scholar
  69. Robertson, A.I. (1979) The relationship between annual production: biomass ratios and lifespans for marine macrobenthos, Oecologia (Berlin), 38, 193–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Rosenberg, A.A., Beddington, J.R and Basson, M. (1986) Growth and longevity of krill during the first decade of pelagic whaling, Nature, 324, 152–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  71. Rowe, G.T. (1983). Biomass and production of the deep-sea macrobenthos, in G.T. Rowe (ed.) Deep-Sea Biology, vol. 8, The Sea, Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp. 97–121.Google Scholar
  72. Rowe, G.T., Sibuet, M., Deming, J., Tietjen, J. and Khripounoff, A. (1990) Organic carbon turnover time in deep-sea benthos, Progress in Oceanography, 24, 141–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  73. Rumohr, H., Brey, T. and Ankar, S. (1987) A compilation of biometric conversion factors for benthic invertebrates of the Baltic Sea, Baltic Marine Biology Publication No.9, 56 pp.Google Scholar
  74. Sahrhage, D. (1986) Wirtschaftlich wichtige Grenadierfisches des Nordatlantiks, Mitteilungen aus dem Institut fur Seefischerei der Bundesforehungsansalt fur Fischerie, Hamburg, Nr 37, 81 pp.Google Scholar
  75. Sanders, H.L. (1956) Oceanography of Long Island Sound, 1952-1954. X. The biology of marine bottom communities, Bulletin of the Bingham Oceanographic Collection, 15, 345–414.Google Scholar
  76. Schnute, J. and Fournier, D.A. (1980) A new approach to length-frequency analysis: growth structure, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 37, 1337–1351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  77. Schwinghamer, P., Hargrave, B., Peer, D., and Hawkins, C.M. (1986) Partitioning of production and respiration among size groups of organisms in an intertidal benthic community, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 31, 131–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  78. Sheehy, M.R.J. (1990) Potential of morphological lipofuscin age-pigment as an index of crustacean age, Marine Biology, 107, 439–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. Shepherd, J.G. (1987a) A weakly parametric method for the analysis of length composition data, in D. Pauly and G.R Morgan (eds.), Length-Based Methods in Fisheries Research, ICLARM Conference Proceedings, 13, Manila.Google Scholar
  80. Shepherd, J.G. (1987b) Towards a method for short-tenn forecasting of catch-rates based on length compositions, in D. Pauly and G.R Morgan (eds.), Length-Based Methods in Fisheries Research, ICLARM Conference Proceedings, 13, Manila.Google Scholar
  81. Smith, K.L., Carlucci, A.F., Jahnke, R.A. and Craven, D.B. (1987) Organic carbon mineralization in the Santa Catalina Basin: benthic boundary layer metabolism, Deep-Sea Research, 34A, 185–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Smith, K.L. and Hinga, K.R (1973) Sediment community respiration in the deep-sea, in G.T. Rowe (ed.), The Sea, vol. 8, Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp. 331–370.Google Scholar
  83. Smith, K.L., Williams, P.M. and Druffel, E.R.M. (1989) Upward fluxes of particulate organic matter in the deep North Pacific, Nature, 337, 724–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  84. Thiel, H. (1975) The size structure of the deep-sea benthos, Internationale Revue des Gesamten Hydrobiologie, 60, 575–606.Google Scholar
  85. Thiel, H., Lochte, K., Gooday, A.J., Hemleben, C., Mantoura, R.F.G., Turley, C.M., Patching, J.W. and Riemann, F. (1990) Phytodetritus on the deep-sea floor in a central oceanic region of the northeast Atlantic, Biological Oceanography, 6, 203–239.Google Scholar
  86. Thorson, G. (1957) Bottom communities (sublittoral or shallow shelf), Geological Society of America, Memoir 67, 461–534.Google Scholar
  87. Tunnicliffe, V. (1991) The biology of hydrothermal vents: ecology and evolution, Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review, 29, 319–407.Google Scholar
  88. Tyler, P.A. (1988) Seasonality in the deep sea, Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review, 26, 227–258.Google Scholar
  89. Tyler, P.A., Grant, A., Pain, S.L. and Gage, J.D. (1982) Is annual reproduction in deep-sea echinoderms a response to variability in their environment, Nature, 300, 747–749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  90. Vlas, de J. (1985) Secondary production by siphon regeneration in a tidal flat population of Macoma balthica, Netherlands Journal of Sea Research, 19, 147–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  91. Warwick, R.M. (1980) Population dynamics and secondary production of benthos, in K.R Tenore and B.C. Coull (eds.), Marine Benthic Dynamics, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
  92. Warwick, R.M. and George, C.L. (1980) Annual macrofauna production in an Abra community, in M.B. Collins (ed.), Embayments and their Environmental Problems, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 517–538.Google Scholar
  93. Warwick, R.M. George, C.L. and Davies, J.R (1978) Annual macrofauna production in a Venus community, Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 7, 215–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  94. Warwick, R.M. and Price, R. (1975). Macrofauna production in an estuarine mud-flat, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  95. Waters, T.F. (1977) Secondary production in inland waters, Advances in Ecological Research, 10, 91–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  96. Wildish, D.J. and Peer, D. (1981). Methods for estimating secondary production in marine Amphipoda, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 38, 1019–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  97. Wilson, R.R. (1982) A comparison of ages estimated by the polarized light method with ages estimated by vertebrae in females of Coryphaenoides acrolepis (Pisces: Macrouridae), Deep-Sea Research, 29A, 1373–1379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  98. Wolff, W. J. & de Wolf, L. (1977), Biomass and production of zoobenthos in the Grevelingen Estuary, the Netherlands, Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 10,702–708.Google Scholar
  99. Zaika, V.E. (1970) Relationship between the productivity of marine mollusks and their life-span, Oceanology (USSR), 10, 702–708 (in Russian).Google Scholar
  100. Zezina, O.N. (1975) On some deep-sea brachiopods from the Gay Head-Bermuda transect, Deep-Sea Research, 22, 903–912.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. D. Gage
    • 1
  1. 1.Scottish Marine Biological AssociationDunstaffnage Marine LaboratoryScotlandUK

Personalised recommendations