10.5061/DRYAD.2S75N
Matabos, Marjolaine
University of Victoria
Tunnicliffe, Verena
University of Victoria
Juniper, S. Kim
University of Victoria
Dean, Courtney
University of Victoria
Data from: A year in hypoxia: epibenthic community responses to severe
oxygen deficit at a subsea observatory in a coastal inlet
Dryad
dataset
2014
cabled observatory
Hypoxia
Spirontocaris sica
Pandalus platyceros
Plectobranchus evides
imagery
Xeneretmus latifrons
Beggiatoa spp
Munida quadrispina
Lyopsetta exilis
2014-08-12T16:12:18Z
2014-08-12T16:12:18Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045626
20804 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Changes in ocean ventilation driven by climate change result in loss of
oxygen in the open ocean that, in turn, affects coastal areas in upwelling
zones such as the northeast Pacific. Saanich Inlet, on the west coast of
Canada, is a natural seasonally hypoxic fjord where certain continental
shelf species occur in extreme hypoxia. One study site on the VENUS cabled
subsea network is located in the hypoxic zone at 104 m depth. Photographs
of the same 5 m2 area were taken with a remotely-controlled still camera
every 2/3 days between October 6th 2009 and October 18th 2010 and examined
for community composition, species behaviour and microbial mat features.
Instruments located on a near-by platform provided high-resolution
measurements of environmental variables. We applied multivariate
ordination methods and a principal coordinate analysis of neighbour
matrices to determine temporal structures in our dataset. Responses to
seasonal hypoxia (0.1–1.27 ml/l) and its high variability on short
time-scale (hours) varied among species, and their life stages. During
extreme hypoxia, microbial mats developed then disappeared as a hippolytid
shrimp, Spirontocaris sica, appeared in high densities (200 m22) despite
oxygen below 0.2 ml/l. The slender sole Lyopsetta exilis was abundant in
severe hypoxia and diminished as oxygen increased in the summer. This
planktivore may be responding to changes in the depth of the diurnal
migration of zooplankton. While the squat lobster Munida quadrispina was
common at all times, juveniles disappeared in fluctuating conditions.
Despite low oxygen conditions, animal densities were high indicating that
the risk from hypoxia is balanced by factors such as food availability and
escape from less tolerant predators. As hypoxia increases on the
continental shelf, we expect benthic communities to become dominated by
low diversity, hypoxia-tolerant species of low commercial significance.
CHONe_MB08_Matabos_data_year
BC
Canada
48°651 N
Patricia Bay
123.487 W
Saanich Inlet
Northeast Pacific