Are abyssal scavenging amphipod assemblages linked to climate cycles?

Abstract

Scavenging amphipods are a numerically dominant and taxonomically diverse group that are key necrophages in deep-sea environments. They contribute to the detrital food web by scavenging large food-falls and provide a food source for other organisms, at bathyal and abyssal depths. Samples of this assemblage have been collected at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the North Atlantic (48°50′N 16°30′W, 4850 m) for >30 years. They were collected by means of baited traps between 1985 and 2016, covering a period of well-characterised changes in the upper ocean. From the 19 samples analysed, a total of 16 taxa were identified from 106,261 specimens. Four taxa, Abyssorchomene chevreuxi (Stebbing, 1906), Paralicella tenuipes Chevreux, 1908, P. caperesca Shulenberger & Barnard, 1976, and Eurythenes spp., dominated catches and were present in all samples. The dominant species varied in time with P. tenuipes typically dominant early in the time series (1985–1997) and its congener, P. caperesca, typically dominant later (2011–2016). Amphipod faunal composition exhibited a significant correlation with the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO). Amphipod diversity was significantly lower in years with higher estimated volumetric particle flux at 3000 m. Species richness varied significantly between AMO phases, with higher values during ‘cool’ phase. Our results suggest a ‘regime shift’ in scavenging amphipod communities following a ‘regime shift’ in surface ocean conditions driven by a phase shift in Atlantic climate (from cool to warm AMO). This shift manifests itself in a remarkable change in dominant species, from obligate necrophages such as Paralicella spp., with semelparous reproduction to Abyssorchomene spp. which have a more varied diet and iteroparous reproduction, and are thus potentially more able to take advantage of greater or varied food availability from increased organic matter flux to the abyssal seafloor.

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