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In situ imaging reveals the biomass of giant protists in the global ocean
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In situ imaging reveals the biomass of giant protists in the global ocean
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Journal Article
In situ imaging reveals the biomass of giant protists in the global ocean
2016
Overview
An
in situ
imaging technique has been used to show that large rhizarian plankton represent a much larger biomass than previously thought, meaning that they are likely to make an important contribution to ocean ecosystems.
Rhizaria are major players in ocean ecology
Ocean ecosystems are inhabited by planktonic organisms spanning a wide size range, with large zooplankton feeding on smaller species and thereby contributing to the marine food web and carbon cycling. However, our understanding of the role and contribution of fragile and large zooplankton to the marine ecosystem is limited. Using data collected by an
in situ
imaging system during the
Tara
Oceans global survey, Tristan Biard
et al
. quantified the respective contributions of Rhizaria (a broad phylogenetic group of marine protists) and other zooplankton larger than 600 μm, finding that they represent a much larger biomass than previously appreciated, contributing up to 5.2% of the total oceanic biota carbon reservoir. These findings highlight the important contribution of Rhizaria to plankton biomass, primary productivity and other biogeochemical processes in the oceans.
Planktonic organisms play crucial roles in oceanic food webs and global biogeochemical cycles
1
,
2
. Most of our knowledge about the ecological impact of large zooplankton stems from research on abundant and robust crustaceans, and in particular copepods
3
,
4
. A number of the other organisms that comprise planktonic communities are fragile, and therefore hard to sample and quantify, meaning that their abundances and effects on oceanic ecosystems are poorly understood. Here, using data from a worldwide
in situ
imaging survey of plankton larger than 600 μm, we show that a substantial part of the biomass of this size fraction consists of giant protists belonging to the Rhizaria, a super-group of mostly fragile unicellular marine organisms that includes the taxa Phaeodaria and Radiolaria (for example, orders Collodaria and Acantharia). Globally, we estimate that rhizarians in the top 200 m of world oceans represent a standing stock of 0.089 Pg carbon, equivalent to 5.2% of the total oceanic biota carbon reservoir
5
. In the vast oligotrophic intertropical open oceans, rhizarian biomass is estimated to be equivalent to that of all other mesozooplankton (plankton in the size range 0.2–20 mm). The photosymbiotic association of many rhizarians with microalgae may be an important factor in explaining their distribution. The previously overlooked importance of these giant protists across the widest ecosystem on the planet
6
changes our understanding of marine planktonic ecosystems.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
Subject
