Data from: Trophic interactions of fish communities at midwater depths enhance long-term carbon storage and benthic production on continental slopes

Biological transfer of nutrients and materials between linked ecosystems influences global carbon budgets and ecosystem structure and function. Identifying the organisms or functional groups that are responsible for nutrient transfer, and quantifying their influence on ecosystem structure and carbon capture is an essential step for informed management of ecosystems in physically distant, but ecologically linked areas. Here, we combine natural abundance stable isotope tracers and survey data to show that mid-water and bentho-pelagic-feeding demersal fishes play an important role in the ocean carbon cycle, bypassing the detrital particle flux and transferring carbon to deep long-term storage. Global peaks in biomass and diversity of fishes at mid-slope depths are explained by competitive release of the demersal fish predators of mid-water organisms, which in turn support benthic fish production. Over 50% of the biomass of the demersal fish community at depths between 500 and 1800 m is supported by biological rather than detrital nutrient flux processes, and we estimate that bentho-pelagic fishes from the UK–Irish continental slope capture and store a volume of carbon equivalent to over 1 million tonnes of CO2 every year.连通生态系统间的营养与物质生物转运过程，会对全球碳收支以及生态系统的结构与功能产生影响。明确负责营养转运的生物类群或功能群，并量化其对生态系统结构与碳固存的影响，是对物理距离遥远但生态上相互关联的区域实施科学生态系统管理的必要前提。本研究结合自然丰度稳定同位素示踪剂（stable isotope tracers）与调查数据，证实中上水层与底栖-浮游食性底栖鱼类（bentho-pelagic-feeding demersal fishes）在海洋碳循环中发挥着重要作用，可绕过碎屑颗粒通量（detrital particle flux）途径，将碳转移至深海长期储库。斜坡中层水深区域的鱼类生物量与多样性全球峰值，可通过中上水层生物的底栖鱼类捕食者的竞争释放得到合理解释，而这些捕食者反过来又支撑了底栖鱼类种群的生产。在水深500至1800米的海域，底栖鱼类群落中超过50%的生物量依赖生物营养转运过程而非碎屑营养通量；我们还估算，英国-爱尔兰大陆坡的底栖-浮游食性鱼类每年可捕获并储存相当于逾100万吨二氧化碳（CO₂）的碳量。