Elemental content allometries and silicon uptake rates of planktonic Rhizaria: Insights into their ecology and role in biogeochemical cycles

Type Article
Date 2023-02
Language English
Author(s) Laget ManonORCID1, Llopis‐monferrer NataliaORCID2, Maguer Jean‐françois2, Leynaert Aude2, Biard TristanORCID1
Affiliation(s) 1 : LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Université de Lille, CNRS, IRD, UMR 8187 Wimereux ,France
2 : Université de Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR Plouzané ,France
Source Limnology And Oceanography (0024-3590) (Wiley), 2023-02 , Vol. 68 , N. 2 , P. 439-454
DOI 10.1002/lno.12284
WOS© Times Cited 1
Abstract

The last two decades have shown the importance of Rhizaria in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and silicon in modern oceans. This eukaryotic supergroup, which includes Radiolaria and Phaeodaria, represents an important part of zooplanktonic carbon biomass and contributes to carbon and silica export. Still, accurate estimations of their carbon biomass are hindered by poor knowledge of their elemental composition, contrasting with well-established allometric carbon-to-volume relationships for smaller protists such as phytoplankton. Here, we directly measured carbon, nitrogen, and biogenic silica content as well as silicon uptake rates of planktonic Rhizaria. We highlight that size can be used as a predictor of elemental content for a broad variety of planktonic Rhizaria ranging from 200 μm to several mm, whereas size is weakly correlated with silicon uptake rates. Our results indicate that the scaling exponent of the carbon-to-volume allometry is significantly lower than those for smaller protists, underlining the low carbon strategy of these organisms. Still, we show that carbon and nitrogen densities span over four orders of magnitude, possibly accounting for the differences in depth ranges, nutritional modes and colonial or solitary forms. We estimate Rhizaria sinking speeds by combining carbon, nitrogen, and silica content data and show that great variability exists among the different taxa. Besides giving a better understanding of rhizarian ecology and biogeochemistry, these analyses, at the individual scale, are a first step to subsequent biomass and flux estimations at larger scales.

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How to cite 

Laget Manon, Llopis‐monferrer Natalia, Maguer Jean‐françois, Leynaert Aude, Biard Tristan (2023). Elemental content allometries and silicon uptake rates of planktonic Rhizaria: Insights into their ecology and role in biogeochemical cycles. Limnology And Oceanography, 68(2), 439-454. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12284 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00809/92117/