Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1982 22(3):647-659; doi:10.1093/icb/22.3.647
© 1982 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SOUTHWARD, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by SOUTHWARD, E. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The Role of Dissolved Organic Matter in the Nutrition of Deep-Sea Benthos1

ALAN J. SOUTHWARD and EVE C. SOUTHWARD
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Citadel Hill Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2PB, United Kingdom

SYNOPSIS. Deep-sea sediments contain less particulate organic matter and lower biomass than shallow-water sediments, but the dissolved organic matter in pore water varies less with depth and may provide a significant food source for deep-sea benthos. Pogonophora are a phylum of predominantly deep-sea animals, all without an internal digestive system. Experiments show that one or two species ought to be able to live by uptake of dissolved organic matter from pore water in deep-sea deposits: some other species may need local enrichment of the habitat for such uptake to be useful. Less is known about nutrition of other deep-sea animals, but dissolved organic matter may supplement a conventional diet in several groups. Chemoautotrophy, using endosymbiotic bacteria, may be important for the large vestimentiferan Pogonophora in the high-sulfide conditions of the hydrothermal vents.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.