Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Regional patterns of nematode assemblages in the Arctic deep seas

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Polar Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Surface primary productivity and carbon flux in the Arctic Seas are higher along the warm Spitsbergen Water Current than along the ice-infested East Greenland Current. These contrasting oceanographic conditions are reflected in the deep-sea environment and may shape nematode assemblages. However, the paucity of samples in the Arctic deep seas precludes any regional scale assessment. In the present study, nematode assemblages were investigated in relation to a range of environmental variables along the 2,000 m isobath between latitudes 72°N and 79°N for both East and Western margins of the northern North Atlantic. Results showed that both margins had distinct environmental characteristics, with respect to chloroplastic pigments, sediment water content, sediment-bound organic matter, phospholipids and particulate proteins. Nematode assemblages varied according to these environmental changes. Along the more oligotrophic western margin, chloroplastic pigments increased towards the North, while the other environmental variables, nematode abundances and species richness decreased. In contrast, along the eastern margin, we observed higher quantities of organic matter and particulate protein, which supported higher abundance and species richness. Nematode assemblages along both margins varied according to food availability with species composition more variable in areas with lower amounts. Seventy percent of the species occurred in both margins indicating a low turnover of species. The present results support the hypothesis of a positive latitudinal gradient across the North Atlantic and further suggest that contemporary climate and recent ecological processes may predict nematode diversity patterns at larger scales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aagaard K, Swift JH, Carmack EC (1985) Thermohaline circulation in the Arctic Mediterranean seas. J Geophys Res 90:4833–4846. doi:10.1029/JC090iC03p04833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aagaard K, Foldvik A, Hillman SR (1987) The West Spitsbergen Current: disposition and water mass transformation. J Geophys Res 92:3778–3784. doi:10.1029/JC092iC04p03778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MJ (2001) Permutation tests for univariate or multivariate analysis of variance and regression. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:626–639. doi:10.1139/cjfas-58-3-626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MJ (2003) DISTLM forward: a FORTRAN computer program to calculate a distance-based multivariate analysis for a linear model using forward selection. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand

  • Anderson MJ (2005) PERMANOVA: a FORTRAN computer program for permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand

  • Barnett PRO, Watson J, Conelly D (1984) A multiple corer for taking virtually undisturbed samples from shelf, bathyal and abyssal sediments. Oceanol Acta 7:399–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Berner H, Wefer G (1994) Clay-mineral flux in the Fram Strait and Norwegian Sea. Mar Geol 116:327–345. doi:10.1016/0025-3227(94)90049-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bessiere A, Christian N, Sonia B, Serge D, Gaston D (2007) Metazoan meiofauna dynamics and pelagicbenthic coupling in the Southeastern Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean. Polar Biol 30:1123–1135. doi:10.1007/s00300-007-0270-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodungen B, Antia A, Bauerfeind E, Haupt O, Koeve W, Machado E et al (1995) Pelagic processes and vertical flux of particles: an overview of a long-term comparative study in the Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea. Geol Rundsch 84:11–27. doi:10.1007/BF00192239

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd TJ, D’Asaro EA (1994) Cooling of the West Spitsbergen Current—wintertime observations west of Svalbard. J Geophys Res 99:22597–22618. doi:10.1029/94JC01824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carmack E, Barber D, Christensen J, Macdonald R, Rudels B, Sakshaug E (2006) Climate variability and physical forcing of the food webs and the carbon budget on panarctic shelves. Prog Oceanogr 71:145–181. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2006.10.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chave J (2003) Neutral theory and community ecology. Ecol Lett 7:241–253. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2003.00566.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR, Warwick RM (2001) Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation, 2nd edn. PRIMER-E, Plymouth

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook AA, Lambshead PJD, Smith CR, Hawkins LE, Mitchell N, Levin LA (2000) Nematode abundance at the oxygen minimum zone in the Arabian Sea. Deep Sea Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr 47:75–85. doi:10.1016/S0967-0645(99)00097-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crame JA (2000) Evolution of taxonomic diversity gradients in the marine realm: evidence from the composition of recent bivalve faunas. Paleobiology 26:188–214. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2000)026<0188:EOTDGI>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culver SJ, Buzas MA (2000) Global latitudinal species diversity gradient in deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 47:259–275. doi:10.1016/S0967-0637(99)00055-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie DJ, Mittelbach GG, Cornell HV, Field R, Guégan J-F, Hawkins BA et al (2004) Predictions and tests of climate-based hypotheses of brad-scale variation in taxonomic richness. Ecol Lett 7:1121–1134. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00671.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danovaro R, Gambi C, Lampadariou N, Tselepides A (2008) Deep-sea nematode biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin: testing for longitudinal, bathymetric and energetic gradients. Ecography 31:231–244. doi:10.1111/j.0906-7590.2008.5484.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellingsen KE, Gray JS (2002) Spatial patterns of benthic diversity: is there a latitudinal gradient along the Norwegian continental shelf? J Anim Ecol 71:373–389. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00606.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Findlay RH, King GM, Watling L (1989) Efficiency of phospholipid analysis in determining microbial biomass in sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 55:2888–2893

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca G, Soltwedel T (2007) Deep-sea meiobenthic communities underneath the marginal ice zone off Eastern Greenland. Polar Biol 30:607–618. doi:10.1007/s00300-006-0220-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca G, Muthumbi A, Vanreusel A (2007) Species richness of the genus Molgolaimus (Nematoda) from local to ocean scale along continental slopes. Mar Ecol (Berl) 28:446–459. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00202.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallucci F, Fonseca G, Soltwedel T (2008a) Effects of megafauna exclusion on nematode assemblages at a deep-sea site. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 55:332–349. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2007.12.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallucci F, Moens T, Vanreseul A, Fonseca G (2008b) Active colonization of disturbed sediments by deep-sea nematodes: evidence for the patch mosaic model. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 367:173–183. doi:10.3354/meps07537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallucci F, Moens T, Fonseca G (2009) Small scale spatial patterns of meiobenthos in the Arctic deep sea. Mar Biodiv. doi:10.1007/s12526-009-0003-x

  • Gambi C, Danovaro R (2006) A multiple-scale analysis of metazoan meiofaunal distribution in the deep Mediterranean Sea. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 53:1117–1134. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2006.05.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graf G, Gerlach SA, Linke P, Queisser W, Ritzrau W, Scheltz A, Thomsen L, Witte U (1994) Benthic–pelagic coupling in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and its effect on the geological record. Geol Rundsch 84:49–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray JS, Bjørgesaeter A, Ugland KI (2005) The impact of rare species on natural assemblages. J Anim Ecol 74:1131–1139. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.01011.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greiser N, Faubel A (1988) Biotic factors. In: Higgens RP, Thiel H (eds) Introduction to the study of meiofauna. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC, pp 79–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins BA, Field R, Cornell HV, Currie DJ et al (2003) Energy, water, and broad-scale geographic patterns of species richness. Ecology 84:3105–3117. doi:10.1890/03-8006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hebbeln D, Berner H (1993) Surface sediment distribution in the Fram Strait. Deep-Sea Res 40:1731–1745. doi:10.1016/0967-0637(93)90029-3

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heip C, Vincx M, Vranken G (1985) The ecology of marine nematodes. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 23:399–489

    Google Scholar 

  • Holm-Hansen O, Lorenzen CJ, Holmes RW, Strickland JDH (1965) Fluorometric determination of chlorophyll. J Cons Perm Intern Explor Mer 30:3–15

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hoste E, Vanhove S, Schewe I, Soltwedel T, Vanreusel A (2007) Spatial and temporal variations in deep-sea meiofauna assemblages in the Marginal Ice Zone of the Arctic Ocean. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 54:109–129. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2006.09.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP (2001) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen P (1987) Feeding ecology of free-living aquatic nematodes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 35:187–196. doi:10.3354/meps035187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koleff P, Gaston KJ, Lennon JJ (2003) Measuring beta diversity for presence–absence data. J Anim Ecol 72:367–382. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00710.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kröncke I, Vanreusel A, Vincx M, Wollenburg J, Mackensen A, Liebezeit G, Behrends B (2000) Different benthic sizes-compartments and their relationship to the sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic Ocean. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 199:31–41. doi:10.3354/meps199031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambshead PJD, Boucher G (2003) Marine nematode deep-sea biodiversity—hyperdiverse or hype? J Biogeogr 30:475–485. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.00843-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambshead PJD, Tietjen J, Ferrero T, Jensen P (2000) Latitudinal diversity gradients in the deep sea with special reference to North Atlantic nematodes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 194:159–167. doi:10.3354/meps194159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambshead PJD, Tietjen J, Moncrieff CB, Ferrero T (2001) North Atlantic latitudinal diversity patterns in deep-sea marine nematode data: a reply to Rex et al. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 210:299–301. doi:10.3354/meps210299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambshead PJD, Brown CJ, Ferrero TJ, Mitchell NJ, Smith CR, Hawkins LE, Tietjen J (2002) Latitudinal diversity patterns of deep-sea marine nematodes and organic fluxes: a test from the central equatorial Pacific. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 236:129–135. doi:10.3354/meps236129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McArdle BH, Anderson MJ (2001) Fitting multivariate models to community data: a comment on distance-based redundancy analysis. Ecology 82:290–297. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[0290:FMMTCD]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mokievsky V, Azovsky A (2002) Re-evaluation of species diversity patterns of free-living marine nematodes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 238:101–108. doi:10.3354/meps238101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouquet N, Loreau M (2002) Coexistence in a metacommunity: the regional similarity hypothesis. Am Nat 159:420–426. doi:10.1086/338996

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piepenburg D (2005) Recent research on arctic benthos: common notions need to be revised. Polar Biol 28:733–755. doi:10.1007/s00300-005-0013-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Procter DLC (1984) Towards a biogeography of free-living soil nematodes. I. Changing species richness, diversity and densities with changing latitude. J Biogeogr 11:103–117. doi:10.2307/2844684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renaud PE, Ambrose WG, Vanreusel A, Clough LM (2006) Nematode and macrofaunal diversity in central Arctic Ocean benthos. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 330:297–306. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2005.12.035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rex MA, Stuart CT, Coyne G (2000) Latitudinal gradients of species richness in the deep-sea benthos of the North Atlantic. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:4082–4085. doi:10.1073/pnas.050589497

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rex MA, Stuart CT, Etter RJ (2001) A comment on whether deep-sea nematodes show a positive latitudinal gradient of species diversity: the potential role of depth. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 210:297–298. doi:10.3354/meps210297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudels B, Björk G, Nilsson J, Winsor P, Lake I, Nohr C (2005) The interactions between waters from the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas north of Fram Strait and along the East Greenland Current: results from the Arctic Ocean-02 Oden Expedition. J Mar Syst 55:1–30. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2004.06.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saloranta TM, Haugan PM (2001) Interannual variability in the hydrography of Atlantic water northwest of Svalbard. J Geophys Res 106:13931–13943. doi:10.1029/2000JC000478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schewe I (2001) Small-sized benthic organisms of the Alpha Ridge, Central Arctic Ocean. Int Rev Hydrobiol 86:317–335. doi:10.1002/1522-2632(200106)86:3<317::AID-IROH317>3.0.CO;2-V

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schewe I, Soltwedel T (1999) Deep-sea meiobenthos of the central Arctic Ocean: distribution patterns and size-structure under extreme oligotrophic conditions. Vie Milieu 49:79–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Schewe I, Soltwedel T (2003) Benthic response to ice-edge induced particle flux in the Arctic Ocean. Polar Biol 26:610–620. doi:10.1007/s00300-003-0526-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schratzberger M, Whomersley P, Warr K, Bolam SG, Rees HL (2004) Colonisation of various types of sediment by estuarine nematodes via lateral infaunal migration: a laboratory study. Mar Biol (Berl) 145:69–78. doi:10.1007/s00227-004-1302-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sedmark J, Grossberg SE (1977) A rapid, sensitive and versatile assay for protein using Coomassie Brilliant Blue G 250. Anal Biochem 79:544–552. doi:10.1016/0003-2697(77)90428-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soltwedel T, Mokievsky V, Schewe I (2000) Benthic activity and biomass on the Yermak Plateau and in adjacent deep-sea regions northwest of Svalbard. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 47:1761–1785. doi:10.1016/S0967-0637(00)00006-6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Soltwedel T, Miljutina M, Mokievsky V, Thistle D, Vopel K (2003) The meiobenthos of the molloy deep (5600 m), Fram Strait, Arctic Ocean. Vie Milieu 53:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Soltwedel T, Portnova D, Kolar I, Mokievsky V, Schewe I (2005) The small-sized benthic biota of the Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano (SW Barents Sea slope). J Mar Syst 55:271–290. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2004.09.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swift JH (1986) The Arctic waters. In: Hurdle BG (ed) The Nordic Seas. Springer, New York, pp 129–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Ugland KI, Gray JS, Ellingsen KE (2003) The species-accumulation curve and estimation of species richness. J Anim Ecol 72:888–897. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00748.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Gaever S, Moodley L, De Beer D, Vanreusel A (2006) Meiobenthos at the Arctic Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano with a parental caring nematode thriving in sulphide-rich sediments. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 321:143–155. doi:10.3354/meps321143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanaverbeke J, Arbizu PM, Dahms HU, Schminke HK (1997) The metazoan meiobenths along a depth gradient in the Arctic Laptev Sea with special attention to nematode communities. Polar Biol 18:391–401. doi:10.1007/s003000050205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanreusel A, Clough L, Jacobsen K, Ambrose W, Jutamas J, Ryheul V, Herman R, Vincx M (2000) Meiobenthos of the central Arctic Ocean with special emphasis on the nematode community structure. Deep Sea Res Part I Oceanogr Res Pap 47:1855–1879. doi:10.1016/S0967-0637(00)00007-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waniek JJ, Holliday NP, Davidson R, Brown L, Henson SA (2005) Freshwater control of onset and species composition of Greenland shelf spring bloom. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 288:45–57. doi:10.3354/meps288045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Clarke KR, Gee JM (1990) The effect of disturbance by soldier crabs, Mictyris platycheles H. Milne Edwards, on meiobenthic community structure. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 135:19–33. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(90)90196-J

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Platt HM, Somerfield PJ (1998) Free living marine nematodes: Part III. Monhysterids. Synopses of the British Fauna (new series), vol 53. Field Studies Council, Shrewsbury

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson GDF (1998) Historical influences on deep-sea isopod diversity in the Atlantic Ocean. Deep Sea Res Part II Top Stud Oceanogr 45:279–301. doi:10.1016/S0967-0645(97)00046-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wollenburg J, Kuhnt W (2000) The response of benthic foraminifers to carbon flux and primary production in the Arctic Ocean. Mar Micropaleontol 40:189–231. doi:10.1016/S0377-8398(00)00039-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yentsch CS, Menzel DW (1963) A method for the determination of phytoplankton chlorophyll and phaeophytin by fluorescence. Deep-Sea Res 10:221–231

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank F. Gallucci and three anonymous referees for commenting on earlier versions of this manuscript. E. Sweet and L. Hughes kindly improved the English. We also thank the crew members of the cruises MSM/02-4, ARK/XVI and ARK/XXII. A. Pappert and S. Simon are thankful for their help with the biochemical analysis. G.F. is supported by a doctoral scholarship from CNPq (200852/2005-1). This is publication awi-n17711 of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deep-Sea Research Group, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Gustavo Fonseca & Thomas Soltwedel

Authors
  1. Gustavo Fonseca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas Soltwedel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gustavo Fonseca.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fonseca, G., Soltwedel, T. Regional patterns of nematode assemblages in the Arctic deep seas. Polar Biol 32, 1345–1357 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0631-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0631-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation