Spatial and temporal variations in food web structure from newly-opened habitat at hydrothermal vents

Type Article
Date 2012-06
Language English
Author(s) Gaudron Sylvie Marylene1, Lefebvre Sebastien2, Jorge Amandine Nunes1, 3, Gaill Francoise1, 4, Pradillon FlorenceORCID1, 5
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR7138, Equipe AMEX, F-75252 Paris 05, France.
2 : Univ Lille 1 Sci & Technol, CNRS, UMR 8187, LOG,Stn Marine Wimereux, F-62930 Wimereux, France.
3 : Max Planck Inst Marine Microbiol, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
4 : INEE, CNRS, F-75017 Paris, France.
5 : IFREMER, Ctr Brest, Dept Ressources Phys & Ecosyst Fond Mer, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
Source Marine Environmental Research (0141-1136) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2012-06 , Vol. 77 , P. 129-140
DOI 10.1016/j.marenvres.2012.03.005
WOS© Times Cited 15
Keyword(s) Trophic relationships, Food web structure, Hydrothermal vent, East Pacific Rise, Stable isotopes, Colonization experiment, TRACs, Alvinella pompejana, Epibiosis
Abstract To highlight the spatio-temporal variability of the food web structure of hydrothermal vent fauna from newly-opened habitat, a series of Titanium Ring for Alvinellid Colonization devices (TRACs) was deployed at TICA site on the East Pacific Rise in 2006. This experiment was conducted for periods of 4 days, 13 days and one month and deployments were aligned along a gradient from the basaltic bottom to the vent openings. delta C-13 values of colonists revealed a narrower range of carbon sources in proximity to vent openings in Alvinella pompejana habitat than in Tevnia jerichonana habitat, separated by a distance of four meters. This was possibly due to a spatial change in available food sources with a possible higher contribution of particulate organic matter (POM) to the siboglinid habitat compared to a higher contribution of microbial primary producers such as Epsilonproteobacteria in the alvinellid habitat. Temporal variability was also observed during experimentation in the form of a shift in either delta C-13 and/or delta N-15 values for A. pompejana, Lepetodrilus elevatus, dirivultid copepods and polynoid polychaetes within a one-month window showing first of all, fast tissues turnover and secondly, a possible switch in feeding strategy or food sources. Lepidonotopodium riftense and Branchinotogluma sandersi may have to alternate between detritivorous and predatory feeding strategies. In addition, through the analysis of stable isotope composition of A. pompejana and its episymbionts, we provided evidence that these attached bacteria formed part of the worms' diet during the course of these colonization experiments. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Full Text
File Pages Size Access
12 1 MB Access on demand
Author's final draft 44 1 MB Open access
Top of the page