Abstract
Gelatinous zooplankton (GZ) biomass is an important, yet often overlooked, vector of the particulate organic matter downward export and a nutritional prey source for the mesopelagic and benthic communities. To better quantify the potential impact of their blooms on biogeochemistry and food webs, we performed decomposition and sinking experiments under two different temperature regimes, 6 and 12 °C using 260 Salpa aspera, sampled in the Northeast Pacific (48.39°–50.40°N, 126.40°–145.00°W) during May 2021. Salps sank 1312 and 1424 m day−1 on average in 6 and 12 °C, respectively. The fast sinking is common among other salp species. Salp decay was exponential and occurred ~ 1.5 times faster under warmer conditions. Comparison of the published GZ decay rates supported their strong temperature dependence (Q10 = 3.46) and revealed that S. aspera decayed slower than most GZ taxa. Carcass sinking rates were higher than previously reported for this species and slowed after a prolonged decay. Biochemical (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids) and elemental (C: carbon, N: nitrogen) compositions were determined for salps at various decomposition stages. The high water content (~ 97%) and low organic content (27.8 ± 7.1% dry weight) were typical of other thaliaceans. The high C:N ratio (6.61 ± 1.14) of S. aspera, compared to many thaliaceans, suggested that their carcasses are valuable sources of carbon beyond the euphotic zone.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank everyone involved in this project: Maite Maldonado, William Cheung, and David Rosen for providing guidance and insight, Moira Galbraith for sampling and transporting salps used in the experiments, Maureen Soon for assisting with laboratory analysis, and Roger Francois for graciously allowing access to his laboratory space and equipment. Thank you Florian Lüskow for providing knowledge and work that has served as foundation for this research. Additional thanks extend to Cher LaCoste and Lora Pakhomova for providing the seawater used in the project. We are very grateful for research funding received from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers for improving earlier versions of the manuscript.
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This work was supported the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Gradate Master’s Scholarship to PO and the NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2014-05107 to EP.
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PO and EP designed the study. PO carried out the experiments and analyzed the data. PO wrote the manuscript with significant contributions from EP.
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Orlov, P., Pakhomov, E. The fate of salp blooms: decomposition and sinking of salp carcasses. Mar Biol 171, 85 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04403-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04403-8