Marine Ecology Progress Series
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14948
copiedDeep-sea nematode community changes over two decades at HAUSGARTEN observatory (Fram Strait, Arctic Ocean)
- Jannik Schnier
- Thomas Soltwedel
- Katarzyna Grzelak
- Barbara Górska
- Jennifer Dannheim
- Vadim Mokievsky
- Pedro Martínez Arbizu
- Christiane Hasemann
ABSTRACT:
Over the past 2 decades, deep-sea nematode communities in the Arctic Ocean have undergone significant changes in structure and diversity, likely linked to shifting organic matter input and environmental conditions. Free-living nematodes were collected in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 at 3 stations along a bathymetric transect (1300, 2500, 4000 m) at the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) observatory HAUSGARTEN, a region of the Arctic Ocean undergoing rapid environmental change. Nematodes were identified to genus level and their biomass size distribution was calculated. Sedimentary food indicators, i.e. chloroplastic pigments (phytodetritus) and bacterial abundance/biomass, were analysed as explanatory variables. Food availability changed over time, with initial chlorophyll a decline at shallower depths, followed by increasing total pigment concentrations and bacterial biomass at greater depths, especially at 4000 m. Nematode abundances declined significantly across all depths, most notably by ~75% at 1300 m. Multivariate analyses revealed progressive and significant shifts in community composition, influenced primarily by depth and with clear separation between early (2000) and late (2019) samples. Alpha diversity (EG(50), J‘, H‘(log2)) declined over time, remaining highest at 1300 m. Beta diversity based on genus exchange ratios showed high genus turnover (29-77%) and changes in dominance (12-55%), suggesting a combination of immigration and replacement of rare genera. Our findings indicate that long-term warming in surface waters and an accompanying shift in productivity are potentially reshaping deep-sea nematode communities, particularly at bathyal depths. This study highlights the value of sustained long-term time-series for understanding deep-sea benthic responses to climate change.
KEYWORDS
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Jannik Schnier (Corresponding Author)
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
Thomas Soltwedel (Co-author)
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
Katarzyna Grzelak (Co-author)
- Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712 Sopot, Poland
Barbara Górska (Co-author)
- Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712 Sopot, Poland
Jennifer Dannheim (Co-author)
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
Vadim Mokievsky (Co-author)
- P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky prosp. 36, Moscow 117997, Russia
Pedro Martínez Arbizu (Co-author)
- German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), Senckenberg am Meer, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Christiane Hasemann (Co-author)
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
Handling Editor:
Deborah K. Steinberg, Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA
Reviewers:
T. Pereira, E. Baldrighi and 1 anonymous referee
Acknowledgements:
We greatly thank the RV ‘Polarstern’ captains, crews, cruise leaders and all other involved persons of the expeditions ARK-XVI, ARK-XX/1, ARK-XXIV/2, PS85, PS121 and all other HAUSGARTEN cruises, without whom our data set would not exist. We are much obliged to Anja Pappert and the deep-sea volunteers (FÖJ participants) for analysing the environmental parameters and for their assistance with sample preparation. Special thanks also to Jule Wirries, who patiently carried out size measurements for hundreds of nematodes that were examined in this study. We express our gratitude to Dorothee Hodapp, who kindly provided a detailed R markdown for the b-diversity analyses, which was a tremendous help. Many thanks also to Lilian Böhringer for the help with QGIS. Furthermore, we thank the 3 anonymous reviewers, whose critical input significantly improved this paper. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. We explicitly acknowledge the support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research. The present work is part of J.S.’s PhD thesis.