Shelled pteropod abundance and distribution across the Mediterranean Sea during spring
Johnson, R. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Manno, Clara (British Antarctic Survey)
Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Thecosome pteropods are a dominant group of calcifying pelagic molluscs and an important component of the food web. In this study, we characterise spring pteropod distribution throughout the Mediterranean Sea, an understudied region for this common group of marine calcifying organisms. This semi-enclosed sea is rapidly changing under climatic and anthropogenic forcings. The presence of surface water biogeochemical gradients from the Atlantic Ocean/Gibraltar Strait to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea allowed us to investigate pteropod distribution and their ecological preferences. In the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea, we found the mean upper 200 m pteropod standing stock of 2. 13 ind. m−3 was approximately 5x greater than the Western basin (mean 0. 42 ind. m−3). Where standing stocks were high, pteropods appeared largely in the same family grouping belonging to Limacinidae. Temperature, O2 concentration, salinity, and aragonite saturation (Ωar) explain 96 % of the observed variations in the communitystructure at the time of sampling, suggesting that pteropods might show a preference for environmental conditions with a lower energetic physiological demand. We also document that pteropods and planktonic foraminifera have an opposite geographical distribution in the Mediterranean Sea. Our findings indicate that in specific pelagic ultra-oligotrophic conditions, such as the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, different feeding strategies could play an important role in regulating calcifying zooplankton distribution.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-113526RB-I00 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CEX2019-000940-M Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CTM2016-79547-R Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM2015-0552 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1588
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Aragonite ; Ecology ; Foraminifera ; Heliconoides inflatus ; Mediterranean Sea ; Ocean acidification ; Ocean warming ; Plankton ; Pteropod ; Aragonite; Ecology; Foraminifera; Heliconoides inflatus; Mediterranean Sea; Ocean acidification; Ocean warming; Plankton; Pteropod ; SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Published in:	Progress in Oceanography, Vol. 210 (Jan. 2023) , art. 102930, ISSN 0079-6611

DOI: 10.1016/j.pocean.2022.102930

14 p, 2.8 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles