TY - JOUR
T1 - Trophic Structure of Neuston Across Tropical and Subtropical Oceanic Provinces Assessed With Stable Isotopes
AU - Albuquerque, Rui
AU - Bode, Antonio
AU - González-Gordillo, Juan Ignacio
AU - Duarte, Carlos M.
AU - Queiroga, Henrique
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-02-23
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to all participants in the Malaspina expedition for their collaboration in plankton sampling and to A.F. Lamas for lab assistance with sample preparation. We also acknowledge the reviewers for their constructive comments and inputs which helped to improve this manuscript. Funding. This research was supported by project Malaspina-2010 (CSD2008-00077) funded by program CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain), by grant IN607A 2018/2 of the Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN, Xunta de Galicia, Spain). Thanks are also due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds. RA was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship funded by FCT (PD/BD/113483/2015).
PY - 2021/1/25
Y1 - 2021/1/25
N2 - The marine neuston, organisms living in the vicinity of the ocean surface, is one of the least studied zooplankton groups. Neuston occupies a restricted ecological niche and is affected by a wide range of endogenous and exogenous processes while also being a food source to zooplankton fish migrating from the deep layers and seabirds. In this study, the neustonic communities were characterized along the Malaspina global expedition sampling tropical and subtropical oceanic provinces using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to explore their trophic structure and relationships with environmental variables. The differences in stable isotopes mirrored the patterns in environmental characteristics of each province. High δ$^{13}$C values were associated with atmospheric carbon inputs, while the presence of dinoflagellates, coccolithophorids, and upwelling influence is related to low δ$^{13}$C values. Similarly, provinces presenting high δ$^{15}$N values were associated with denitrification and nitrate diffusive fluxes, whereas the presence of low δ$^{15}$N is attributable to nitrogen supplied through N2 fixation by diazotrophs. Neuston showed a large overlap among the isotopic niches of four functional groups, with chaetognaths and detritivores generally exhibiting a smaller degree of overlap compared to carnivores and omnivores/herbivores. These results support the hypothesis of a common trophic structure in the neuston community across the ocean. However, the size of the niche, small in coastal areas and those influenced by upwelling and large in oligotrophic regions, and their overlap, low in more productive provinces and high in oligotrophic provinces, may be associated with food availability. Small trophic niches are associated with a dominance of specialized over-opportunistic feeding in productive environments.
AB - The marine neuston, organisms living in the vicinity of the ocean surface, is one of the least studied zooplankton groups. Neuston occupies a restricted ecological niche and is affected by a wide range of endogenous and exogenous processes while also being a food source to zooplankton fish migrating from the deep layers and seabirds. In this study, the neustonic communities were characterized along the Malaspina global expedition sampling tropical and subtropical oceanic provinces using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to explore their trophic structure and relationships with environmental variables. The differences in stable isotopes mirrored the patterns in environmental characteristics of each province. High δ$^{13}$C values were associated with atmospheric carbon inputs, while the presence of dinoflagellates, coccolithophorids, and upwelling influence is related to low δ$^{13}$C values. Similarly, provinces presenting high δ$^{15}$N values were associated with denitrification and nitrate diffusive fluxes, whereas the presence of low δ$^{15}$N is attributable to nitrogen supplied through N2 fixation by diazotrophs. Neuston showed a large overlap among the isotopic niches of four functional groups, with chaetognaths and detritivores generally exhibiting a smaller degree of overlap compared to carnivores and omnivores/herbivores. These results support the hypothesis of a common trophic structure in the neuston community across the ocean. However, the size of the niche, small in coastal areas and those influenced by upwelling and large in oligotrophic regions, and their overlap, low in more productive provinces and high in oligotrophic provinces, may be associated with food availability. Small trophic niches are associated with a dominance of specialized over-opportunistic feeding in productive environments.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/667566
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.606088/full
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100690754&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2020.606088
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2020.606088
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
ER -