Biochemical investigation of multicorer sediment profile PS99/065-3

To detect and track the impact of large-scale environmental changes in a the transition zone between the northern North Atlantic and the central Arctic Ocean, and to determine experimentally the factors controlling deep-sea biodiversity, the Alfred- Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) established the deep-sea long-term observatory HAUSGARTEN, which constitutes the first, and until now only open-ocean long-term station in a polar region. Virtually undisturbed sediment samples have been taken using a video-guided multiple corer (MUC) at 13 HAUSGARTEN stations along a bathymetric (1,000 - 4,000 m water depth) and a latitudinal transect in 2,500 m water depth as well as two stations at 230 and 1,200 m water depth within the framework of the KONGHAU project. Various biogenic sediment compounds were analyzed to estimate the input of organic matter from phytodetritus sedimentation, benthic activities (e.g. bacterial exoenzymatic activity), and the total biomass of the smallest sediment-inhabiting organisms (size range: bacteria to meiofauna).

为探测并追踪北大西洋北部与北冰洋中部过渡带的大规模环境变化影响，并通过实验明确控制深海生物多样性的关键因素，阿尔弗雷德·魏格纳极地与海洋研究所（Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, AWI）建立了深海长期观测站HAUSGARTEN——该观测站是极地地区首个且迄今唯一的远洋长期观测站位。在KONGHAU项目框架下，研究团队在沿水深地形梯度（水深范围1000~4000米）与2500米水深纬度断面布设的13个HAUSGARTEN观测站，以及另外2个分别设于230米和1200米水深的站位处，采用视频引导式多管取样器（multiple corer, MUC）采集了几乎未受扰动的沉积物样本。研究团队对多种生物成因沉积物组分开展分析，以此估算浮游植物碎屑沉降带来的有机质输入通量、底栖生物活动（如细菌胞外酶活性），以及栖息于沉积物中的最小体型生物（尺寸区间：从细菌到小型底栖生物（meiofauna））的总生物量。