Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin

Simona Avnaim-Katav; Barak Herut; Eyal Rahav; Timor Katz; Yishai Weinstein; Ronen Alkalay; Ilana Berman-Frank; Olga Zlatkin; Ahuva Almogi-Labin

doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin

Simona Avnaim-Katav, Barak Herut, Eyal Rahav, Timor Katz, Yishai Weinstein, Ronen Alkalay, Ilana Berman-Frank, Olga Zlatkin, Ahuva Almogi-Labin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sediment trap and core top sediments were used to study the seasonal and longer-term variability in the distribution and assemblage composition of planktonic foraminifera (PF) in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin (LB). A continuous time series of particulate flux sampled every 11–12 days were retrieved from a sediment trap deployed at 1300 m between May 2017 and May 2018. The core top sediments were collected close to the sediment trap mooring site at ~1500 m water depth. The average annual planktonic foraminiferal (PF) flux was 93 shells m^-2 d^-1, the lowest value yet recorded among traps located in tropical-subtropical oligotrophic regions. A bimodal increase in PF flux is observed, with highest numbers of 452 shells m^-2 d^-1 occurring in winter (February), responding directly to maxima in particulate mass flux. A lower flux occurs in late summer from mid-August to mid-September with up to 197 shells m^-2 d^-1. Ten species were found in the trap, the majority were symbiont-bearing spinose species that contribute 96% of the total flux. Globigerinoides ruber white predominate the assemblage composition during the winter peak together with Globoturborotalita rubsecens and Globigerinella calida. During the subordinate summer peak the dominating species were G. ruber white, Orbulina universa and Globigerinoides ruber pink. The relative abundance of G. bulloides and G. ruber pink is much lower in the sediment trap samples compared to their abundance in nearby coretop sediments. This trend seems to indicate a recent drop in their numbers. At the same time G. rubescens and Globoturborotalita tenella occur in higher numbers in the sediment trap compared with the coretop samples. These opposite trends may reflect the current adjustment of certain PF species to the ongoing sea surface warming and decrease in food availability in the LB.

Original language	English
Article number	104669
Journal	Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
Volume	171
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669
State	Published - Jan 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

We thank the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel (MERCI) for their partial support in establishing and running the DeepLev station. We also thank the North American Friends of IOLR and Wolfson Foundation via BIU for their financial support. We thank the IOLR electronic, sea operations and marine physical departments for invaluable help with facilities and technical operations in establishing and running the DeepLev station. We thank the support of the engineers of the machine shop at BIU for their help in the buildup of mooring and attached devices. We thank the Israeli Ministries of Energy and Environmental Protection for their support in related activities in frame of the National Monitoring Program for Israeli Mediterranean Waters. We also want to thank the captain and crew of the R/V Bat Galim for their great assistance and good spirits. Thanks are also due to Mor Kanari from the Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, for the graphics. We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their very thoughtful and helpful revision that improved considerably the manuscript. Appendix A We thank the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel (MERCI) for their partial support in establishing and running the DeepLev station. We also thank the North American Friends of IOLR and Wolfson Foundation via BIU for their financial support. We thank the IOLR electronic, sea operations and marine physical departments for invaluable help with facilities and technical operations in establishing and running the DeepLev station. We thank the support of the engineers of the machine shop at BIU for their help in the buildup of mooring and attached devices. We thank the Israeli Ministries of Energy and Environmental Protection for their support in related activities in frame of the National Monitoring Program for Israeli Mediterranean Waters. We also want to thank the captain and crew of the R/V Bat Galim for their great assistance and good spirits. Thanks are also due to Mor Kanari from the Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, for the graphics. We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their very thoughtful and helpful revision that improved considerably the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
BIU
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research
Israeli Ministries of Energy and Environmental Protection
Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel
North American Friends of IOLR
North American Friends of IOLR and Wolfson Foundation
Wolfson Foundation

Keywords

Levantine Basin
Planktonic foraminifera
Sediment trap
Surface sediments
Ultra-oligotrophy

Access to Document

10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

Cite this

Avnaim-Katav, S., Herut, B., Rahav, E., Katz, T., Weinstein, Y., Alkalay, R., Berman-Frank, I., Zlatkin, O., & Almogi-Labin, A. (2020). Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 171, Article 104669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

@article{3b31dabf0b7241fabf860a13681952b7,

title = "Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin",

abstract = "Sediment trap and core top sediments were used to study the seasonal and longer-term variability in the distribution and assemblage composition of planktonic foraminifera (PF) in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin (LB). A continuous time series of particulate flux sampled every 11–12 days were retrieved from a sediment trap deployed at 1300 m between May 2017 and May 2018. The core top sediments were collected close to the sediment trap mooring site at ~1500 m water depth. The average annual planktonic foraminiferal (PF) flux was 93 shells m-2 d-1, the lowest value yet recorded among traps located in tropical-subtropical oligotrophic regions. A bimodal increase in PF flux is observed, with highest numbers of 452 shells m-2 d-1 occurring in winter (February), responding directly to maxima in particulate mass flux. A lower flux occurs in late summer from mid-August to mid-September with up to 197 shells m-2 d-1. Ten species were found in the trap, the majority were symbiont-bearing spinose species that contribute 96% of the total flux. Globigerinoides ruber white predominate the assemblage composition during the winter peak together with Globoturborotalita rubsecens and Globigerinella calida. During the subordinate summer peak the dominating species were G. ruber white, Orbulina universa and Globigerinoides ruber pink. The relative abundance of G. bulloides and G. ruber pink is much lower in the sediment trap samples compared to their abundance in nearby coretop sediments. This trend seems to indicate a recent drop in their numbers. At the same time G. rubescens and Globoturborotalita tenella occur in higher numbers in the sediment trap compared with the coretop samples. These opposite trends may reflect the current adjustment of certain PF species to the ongoing sea surface warming and decrease in food availability in the LB.",

keywords = "Levantine Basin, Planktonic foraminifera, Sediment trap, Surface sediments, Ultra-oligotrophy",

author = "Simona Avnaim-Katav and Barak Herut and Eyal Rahav and Timor Katz and Yishai Weinstein and Ronen Alkalay and Ilana Berman-Frank and Olga Zlatkin and Ahuva Almogi-Labin",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "171",

journal = "Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography",

issn = "0967-0645",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",

}

Avnaim-Katav, S, Herut, B, Rahav, E, Katz, T, Weinstein, Y, Alkalay, R, Berman-Frank, I, Zlatkin, O & Almogi-Labin, A 2020, 'Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin', Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, vol. 171, 104669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin. / Avnaim-Katav, Simona; Herut, Barak; Rahav, Eyal et al.
In: Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Vol. 171, 104669, 01.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin

AU - Avnaim-Katav, Simona

AU - Herut, Barak

AU - Rahav, Eyal

AU - Katz, Timor

AU - Weinstein, Yishai

AU - Alkalay, Ronen

AU - Berman-Frank, Ilana

AU - Zlatkin, Olga

AU - Almogi-Labin, Ahuva

PY - 2020/1

Y1 - 2020/1

N2 - Sediment trap and core top sediments were used to study the seasonal and longer-term variability in the distribution and assemblage composition of planktonic foraminifera (PF) in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin (LB). A continuous time series of particulate flux sampled every 11–12 days were retrieved from a sediment trap deployed at 1300 m between May 2017 and May 2018. The core top sediments were collected close to the sediment trap mooring site at ~1500 m water depth. The average annual planktonic foraminiferal (PF) flux was 93 shells m-2 d-1, the lowest value yet recorded among traps located in tropical-subtropical oligotrophic regions. A bimodal increase in PF flux is observed, with highest numbers of 452 shells m-2 d-1 occurring in winter (February), responding directly to maxima in particulate mass flux. A lower flux occurs in late summer from mid-August to mid-September with up to 197 shells m-2 d-1. Ten species were found in the trap, the majority were symbiont-bearing spinose species that contribute 96% of the total flux. Globigerinoides ruber white predominate the assemblage composition during the winter peak together with Globoturborotalita rubsecens and Globigerinella calida. During the subordinate summer peak the dominating species were G. ruber white, Orbulina universa and Globigerinoides ruber pink. The relative abundance of G. bulloides and G. ruber pink is much lower in the sediment trap samples compared to their abundance in nearby coretop sediments. This trend seems to indicate a recent drop in their numbers. At the same time G. rubescens and Globoturborotalita tenella occur in higher numbers in the sediment trap compared with the coretop samples. These opposite trends may reflect the current adjustment of certain PF species to the ongoing sea surface warming and decrease in food availability in the LB.

AB - Sediment trap and core top sediments were used to study the seasonal and longer-term variability in the distribution and assemblage composition of planktonic foraminifera (PF) in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin (LB). A continuous time series of particulate flux sampled every 11–12 days were retrieved from a sediment trap deployed at 1300 m between May 2017 and May 2018. The core top sediments were collected close to the sediment trap mooring site at ~1500 m water depth. The average annual planktonic foraminiferal (PF) flux was 93 shells m-2 d-1, the lowest value yet recorded among traps located in tropical-subtropical oligotrophic regions. A bimodal increase in PF flux is observed, with highest numbers of 452 shells m-2 d-1 occurring in winter (February), responding directly to maxima in particulate mass flux. A lower flux occurs in late summer from mid-August to mid-September with up to 197 shells m-2 d-1. Ten species were found in the trap, the majority were symbiont-bearing spinose species that contribute 96% of the total flux. Globigerinoides ruber white predominate the assemblage composition during the winter peak together with Globoturborotalita rubsecens and Globigerinella calida. During the subordinate summer peak the dominating species were G. ruber white, Orbulina universa and Globigerinoides ruber pink. The relative abundance of G. bulloides and G. ruber pink is much lower in the sediment trap samples compared to their abundance in nearby coretop sediments. This trend seems to indicate a recent drop in their numbers. At the same time G. rubescens and Globoturborotalita tenella occur in higher numbers in the sediment trap compared with the coretop samples. These opposite trends may reflect the current adjustment of certain PF species to the ongoing sea surface warming and decrease in food availability in the LB.

KW - Levantine Basin

KW - Planktonic foraminifera

KW - Sediment trap

KW - Surface sediments

KW - Ultra-oligotrophy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074511614&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

DO - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104669

M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???

SN - 0967-0645

VL - 171

JO - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

JF - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

M1 - 104669

ER -

Sediment trap and deep sea coretop sediments as tracers of recent changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the southeastern ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Basin

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this