Opportunistic consumption of marine pelagic, terrestrial, and chemosynthetic organic matter by macrofauna on the Arctic shelf: a stable isotope approach

Macrofauna can contribute substantially to the organic matter cycling on the seafloor, yet the role of terrestrial and chemosynthetic organic matter in the diets of microphagous (deposit and suspension) feeders is poorly understood. In the present study, we used stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to test the hypothesis that the terrestrial organic matter supplied with river runoff and local chemosynthetic production at methane seeps might be important organic matter sources for macrofaunal consumers on the Laptev Sea shelf. We sampled locations from three habitats with the presumed differences in organic matter supply: “Delta” with terrestrial inputs from the Lena River, “Background” on the northern part of the shelf with pelagic production as the main organic matter source, and “Seep” in the areas with detected methane seepage, where chemosynthetic production might be available. Macrobenthic communities inhabiting each of the habitats were characterized by a distinct isotopic niche, mostly in terms of δ(13)C values, directly reflecting differences in the origin of organic matter supply, while δ(15)N values mostly reflected the feeding group (surface deposit/suspension feeders, subsurface deposit feeders, and carnivores). We conclude that both terrestrial and chemosynthetic organic matter sources might be substitutes for pelagic primary production in the benthic food webs on the largely oligotrophic Laptev Sea shelf. Furthermore, species-specific differences in the isotopic niches of species belonging to the same feeding group are discussed, as well as the isotopic niches of the symbiotrophic tubeworm Oligobrachia sp. and the rissoid gastropod Frigidoalvania sp., which are exclusively associated with methane seeps.