Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 57 (2010): 696-707, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2010.03.003.
Description:
One proposed approach to ameliorate the effects of global warming is sequestration of
the greenhouse gas CO2 in the deep sea. To evaluate the environmental impact of this
approach, we exposed the sediment-dwelling fauna at the mouth of the Monterey
Submarine Canyon (3262 m) and a site on the nearby continental rise (3607 m) to CO2-
rich water. We measured meiobenthic nematode population and community metrics
after ~30-day exposures along a distance gradient from the CO2 source and with
sediment depth to infer the patterns of mortality. We also compared the nematode
response with that of harpacticoid copepods. Nematode abundance, average sediment
depth, tail-group composition, and length: width ratio did not vary with distance from
the CO2 source. However, quantile regression showed that nematode length and
diameter increased in close proximity to the CO2 source in both experiments. Further,
the effects of CO2 exposure and sediment depth (nematodes became more slender at
one site, but larger at the other, with increasing depth in the sediment) varied with body
size. For example, the response of the longest nematodes differed from those of
average length. We propose that nematode body length and diameter increases were
induced by lethal exposure to CO2-rich water and that nematodes experienced a high
rate of mortality in both experiments. In contrast, copepods experienced high mortality
rates in only one experiment suggesting that CO2 sequestration effects are taxon
specific.
Description:
The Department of Energy
Office of Biological and Environmental Research supported this research under award
numbers DE‐FG02‐05ER64070 and DE‐FG03‐01ER63065 and the U.S. Department of
Energy, Fossil Energy Group (award DE‐FC26‐00NT40929). We also appreciate
significant support provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (project
200002).
Keywords:
Carbon dioxide
;
Nematode body size and shape
;
Sediment vertical profile
;
Monterey Canyon
;
Quantile regression
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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