Marine Ecology Progress Series
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14947
copiedNiche partitioning among abyssal deposit-feeding echinoderms is linked to mobility and gut microbiota
ABSTRACT:
Deposit-feeding echinoderms are dominant megafauna on abyssal plains, where they consume organic detrital material at the base of the benthic food web. However, the strategies they use to survive on irregular pulses of poor-quality detritus remain poorly understood in many regions. Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis of amino acids, we found that deposit-feeding holothurians and echinoids in the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre are secondary rather than primary consumers of detritus, consistent with earlier findings from the productive California Current Ecosystem suggesting they consume gut microbial biomass or its products. At both sites, gut microbial communities were dominated by Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Planctomycetes, and in some species, by the ammonia-oxidizing archaea Nitrosopumilales. Many of the more mobile species, including swimming holothurians, also contained high proportions of Cyanobacteria in their guts during high-flux seasons, demonstrating that fast-moving taxa can consume fresher phytodetritus. Using a mixing model based on δ15N values of source amino acids, we found that deposit feeders capable of swimming consume a higher proportion of larger and fresher particles than obligate benthic species, directly linking swimming behavior to feeding selectivity for the first time. Differences in the gut microbiota of deposit feeders on abyssal plain ecosystems, characterized by both high- and low-flux regimes, correspond to niche partitioning based on detritus of differing nutritional qualities. We show that abyssal deposit-feeding echinoderms use multiple adaptations, including swimming behavior and gut microbial communities, to consume a variety of detrital food sources.
KEYWORDS
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Lee Miller (Corresponding Author)
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Sonia Romero-Romero (Co-author)
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Brian Popp (Co-author)
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 1680 East West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Jeffrey Drazen (Co-author)
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Handling Editor:
James McClintock, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Reviewers:
T. Stratmann and 2 anonymous referees
Acknowledgements:
We thank Ken Smith, Crissy Huffard, and Henry Ruhl at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for assistance with sample collection and processing at sea. We also thank Jesse Black, Craig Smith, David Karl, Blake Watkins, and Michael Dowd for deployment and processing of sediment traps. Thank you to Rich Mooi, Andrey Gebruk, and Antonina Kremenetskaia for assistance with animal identifications. We also thank Natalie Wallsgrove for assistance in the laboratory. Funding for field and laboratory work was provided by NSF Grant #1829612 to J.C.D., B.N.P., and C. R. Smith. This is School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology contribution #11358.