Global patterns of bioturbation intensity and mixed depth of marine soft sediments
By L. Teal, M. Bulling, E. R. Parker, M. Solan. 2010
231 citations recorded by the source corpus.
The importance of bioturbation in mediating biogeochemical processes in the upper centimetres of oceanic sediments provides a compelling reason for wanting to quantify in situ rates of bioturbation. Whilst several approaches can be used for estimating the rate and extent of bioturba- tion, most often it is characterized by calculating an intensity coefficient (Db) and/or a mixed layer depth (L). Using measures of Db (n = 447) and L (n = 784) collated largely from peer-reviewed litera- ture, we have assembled a global database and examined patterns of both L and Db. At the broadest level, this database reveals that there are considerable gaps in our knowledge of bioturbation for all major oceans other than the North Atlantic, and almost universally for the deep ocean. Similarly, there is an appreciable bias towards observations in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly along the coastal regions of North America and Europe. For the assembled dataset, we find large discrepancies in estimations of L and Db that reflect differences in boundary conditions and reaction properties of the methods used. Tracers with longer half-lives tend to give lower Db estimates and deeper mixing depths than tracers with shorter half-lives. Estimates of L based on sediment profile imaging are significantly lower than estimates based on tracer methods. Estimations of L, but not Db, differ between biogeographical realms at the global level and, at least for the Temperate Northern Atlantic realm, also at the regional level. There are significant effects of season irrespective of location, with higher activities (Db) observed during summer and deeper mixing depths (L) observed during autumn. Our evaluation demonstrates that we have reasonable estimates of bioturbation for only a limited set of conditions and regions of the world. For these data, and based on a conservative global mean (±SD) L of 5.75 ± 5.67 cm (n = 791), we calculate the global volume of bioturbated sediment to be >20 700 km 3 . Whilst it is clear that the role of benthic invertebrates in mediating global ecosystem processes is substantial, the level of uncertainty at the regional level is unacceptably high for much of the globe.
Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8d48929cca01603942171d750414c7e6b4dff64e
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In Global and Planetary Change
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Citations in the corpus
- Uses and Misuses of Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Science and Conservation (2018, background): “The impact of such movement adds complexity to data interpretation, which is further enhanced by considerable variation in the depth of bioturbation among habitats (Teal et al. 2008).”
- Burrowing deeper into benthic nitrogen cycling: the impact of bioturbation on nitrogen fixation coupled to sulfate reduction (2010, background): “Many coastal sediments have a high abundance of burrowing infauna (Teal et al. 2008) with bioturbation (movement of particles) and bioirrigation (movement of fluids) having direct consequences on organic matter degradation, biogeochemical processes, and nutrient cycling (Aller 1982, Aller & Aller…”