Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts

Abstract Trophic ecology of detrital-based food webs is still poorly understood. Abyssal plains depend entirely on detritus and are among the most understudied ecosystems, with deposit feeders dominating megafaunal communities. We used compound-specific stable isotope ratios of amino acids (CSIA-AA)...

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Autores principales:	Sonia Romero-Romero, Elizabeth C. Miller, Jesse A. Black, Brian N. Popp, Jeffrey C. Drazen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fff1a4b5e6734c19bd7ad919415551d1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fff1a4b5e6734c19bd7ad919415551d12021-12-02T17:24:09ZAbyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts10.1038/s41598-021-91927-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/fff1a4b5e6734c19bd7ad919415551d12021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91927-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Trophic ecology of detrital-based food webs is still poorly understood. Abyssal plains depend entirely on detritus and are among the most understudied ecosystems, with deposit feeders dominating megafaunal communities. We used compound-specific stable isotope ratios of amino acids (CSIA-AA) to estimate the trophic position of three abundant species of deposit feeders collected from the abyssal plain of the Northeast Pacific (Station M; ~ 4000 m depth), and compared it to the trophic position of their gut contents and the surrounding sediments. Our results suggest that detritus forms the base of the food web and gut contents of deposit feeders have a trophic position consistent with primary consumers and are largely composed of a living biomass of heterotrophic prokaryotes. Subsequently, deposit feeders are a trophic level above their gut contents making them secondary consumers of detritus on the abyssal plain. Based on δ13C values of essential amino acids, we found that gut contents of deposit feeders are distinct from the surrounding surface detritus and form a unique food source, which was assimilated by the deposit feeders primarily in periods of low food supply. Overall, our results show that the guts of deposit feeders constitute hotspots of organic matter on the abyssal plain that occupy one trophic level above detritus, increasing the food-chain length in this detritus-based ecosystem.Sonia Romero-RomeroElizabeth C. MillerJesse A. BlackBrian N. PoppJeffrey C. DrazenNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sonia Romero-Romero Elizabeth C. Miller Jesse A. Black Brian N. Popp Jeffrey C. Drazen Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
description	Abstract Trophic ecology of detrital-based food webs is still poorly understood. Abyssal plains depend entirely on detritus and are among the most understudied ecosystems, with deposit feeders dominating megafaunal communities. We used compound-specific stable isotope ratios of amino acids (CSIA-AA) to estimate the trophic position of three abundant species of deposit feeders collected from the abyssal plain of the Northeast Pacific (Station M; ~ 4000 m depth), and compared it to the trophic position of their gut contents and the surrounding sediments. Our results suggest that detritus forms the base of the food web and gut contents of deposit feeders have a trophic position consistent with primary consumers and are largely composed of a living biomass of heterotrophic prokaryotes. Subsequently, deposit feeders are a trophic level above their gut contents making them secondary consumers of detritus on the abyssal plain. Based on δ13C values of essential amino acids, we found that gut contents of deposit feeders are distinct from the surrounding surface detritus and form a unique food source, which was assimilated by the deposit feeders primarily in periods of low food supply. Overall, our results show that the guts of deposit feeders constitute hotspots of organic matter on the abyssal plain that occupy one trophic level above detritus, increasing the food-chain length in this detritus-based ecosystem.
format	article
author	Sonia Romero-Romero Elizabeth C. Miller Jesse A. Black Brian N. Popp Jeffrey C. Drazen
author_facet	Sonia Romero-Romero Elizabeth C. Miller Jesse A. Black Brian N. Popp Jeffrey C. Drazen
author_sort	Sonia Romero-Romero
title	Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
title_short	Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
title_full	Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
title_fullStr	Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
title_full_unstemmed	Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
title_sort	abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/fff1a4b5e6734c19bd7ad919415551d1
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Abyssal deposit feeders are secondary consumers of detritus and rely on nutrition derived from microbial communities in their guts

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