Abstract.
Bathymetric gradients in body size are the most well-known patterns of geographic variation in deep-sea organisms. The causes of size–depth relationships remain uncertain, but most have been attributed to rates of nutrient input. Chapelle and Peck (1999, Nature 399:114–115) recently hypothesized that body size in marine invertebrates is a function of dissolved oxygen concentration. We tested this hypothesis by using quantile regression techniques to assess the relationship of dissolved oxygen levels to maximum size in deep-sea turrid gastropods collected from the North Atlantic. Relationships were examined for a group of nine turrid species and within the abundant lower bathyal species Benthomangelia antonia (Dall, 1881). We controlled the analysis for depth because size in deep-sea gastropods varies bathymetrically. When the effects of depth are accounted for statistically, maximum size in B. antonia increases with increasing levels of dissolved oxygen. In turrids as a group, both depth and oxygen appear to explain significant proportions of the variance in maximum size. These findings suggest that a suite of factors, including dissolved oxygen concentration, may influence maximum size in deep-sea organisms.
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McClain, .C., Rex, .M. The relationship between dissolved oxygen concentration and maximum size in deep-sea turrid gastropods: an application of quantile regression. Marine Biology 139, 681–685 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002270100617
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002270100617