northern Gulf of Mexico Preliminary trophodynamic carbon budget for the sigsbee deep benthos

The standing stocks and rates of heterotrophic metabolism of the benthos have been estimated in a joint U.S./Mexican study at a site on the abyssal plain (3.65 km) of the western Gulf of Mexico. Total densities and biomass of the principal size categories of the community (bottom fishes, megafauna, macrofauna, meiofauna, and bacteria) were low, as expected from similar studies in other ocean basins. The total stock sizes, in terms of organic carbon, were lowest in the largest-sized organisms and increased in importance as mean size decreased, with the greatest total biomasses in the bacterial and meiofaunal fractions. The respiration rate of each of the above size-groups was estimated on the basis of mean size, abundance, and temperature from established allometric relationships in the literature. These estimates were incorporated into a carbon budget for the benthic boundary layer at this site. The total organic carbon remineralization and burial estimated from the model (10.4 mg C/m2 per day) was approximately two times that estimated from the oxygen consumption in a benthic chamber (ca. 4.0 mg C/m2 per day). A time-dependent numerical simulation of carbon cycling was constructed from the budget to investigate potential effects of variations in particulate organic carbon (POC) flux to the sea floor. Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 2003.

Rowe, G. T., Lohse, A., Hubbard, F., Boland, G. S., Briones, E. E., & Deming, J.

Preliminary trophodynamic carbon budget for the sigsbee deep benthos, northern Gulf of Mexico Academic Article