Geohazards of Submarine Canyon Dynamically Affect

Community Structure of Meiofauna

Jian-Xiang Liao, Guan-Ming Chen and Chih-Lin Wei
Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Abstract
With increasing demand in deep-sea exploitations, submarine canyon systems undergoing large-scale natural disturbance or
geohazards could be an ideal laboratory to understand the effects of cumulative impacts and recovery processes of benthic
communities. As a major conduit of terrestrial and marine sediments into the deep South China Sea, the Gaoping Submarine Canyon
(GPSC) off the Southwestern Taiwan undergoes highly variable organic matter fluxes and strong physical disturbances originated
from flood and earthquake induced gravity flows and strong tidal bottom currents. A multiple corer was used to sample 8 sites in the
upper GPSC and adjacent slope between 200 to 1000 m during 2 cruises on board R/V OR1 in 2015. The density of meiofauna,
invertebrates retained on a 40-m sieve, was substantially higher on the slope then in the canyon. The community compositions of
high taxa consistently differed between both habitats with more diverse taxa on slope than in the canyon. Paracarid crustaceans kept
disappearing in the canyon, while nematodes, harpacticoid crustaceans, polychaetes, and kinorhynches flourished in both habitats.
Several colonizers might recover from the large-scale and frequent disturbances in the canyon within several months, which is
distinct from the constant sparse macrofauna. The community responses to hyper sedimentation in the GPSC imply that the largescale sediment plumes generated by deep-sea mining may have negative impacts on the surrounding benthic communities.

Preliminary Results of Nematode Fauna

China

Nematodes from 2 sites (GS1 and GC1) of cruise 1126 (n=3).

Taiwan

Sampling sites: 2 transects along

GPSC and adjacent slope.

Slope, R2=0.16, P=0.32

Density (/10 cm2)

Genus richness
Species richness
Individual volume (nL)
Dominant genus

Dorylaimopsis variabilis

Sabatieria sp. 1

GS1
1373.9343
38
51
3.224.4
Dorylaimopsis 15.7%
Sabatieria 10.7%
Setosabatieria 9%
Tricoma 9%
Setosabatieria hilarula

GC1
67.16.1
9
12
0.050.08
Sabatieria 40.3%
Daptonema 26.6%
Vasostoma 18.5%
Vasostoma longispicula

Family Comesomatidae flourished in the canyon (58.9%) and on slope (42.3%).

Desmoscolex sp.

Richtersia coifsoa

Tricoma sp. 3

Tricoma sp. 4

Canyon, R2=0.03, P=0.68

Stout nematodes as persisters were only occurred on the slope.

Oncholaimus sp. 1

Meiofaunal densities significantly higher on the upper slope

(ANOVA, F1,12=19.4, P<0.001).
GPSC

Paramesacanthion tricuspis

Sphaerolaimus sp. 1

Slope
Filoncholaimus sp.

Omnivores/predators disappeared in the canyon.

Daptonema sp. 1

Composition of meiofauna included more taxa on the slope

than in the canyon (ANOSIM, R=0.45, P=0.001).
Acknowledgements: MOST 103-2119-M-002-029-MY2 for funding; crews and
students on board R/V OR1; JXL is supported by NTU Postdoctoral Fellow.

Daptonema sp. 3

Sabatieria sp. 2

Daptonema and
Sabatieria were
typical colonizers
and dominant in the
canyon.

Functional Diversity of Nematode: omnivores/predators (2B) disappeared in the

canyon, where non-selective deposit feeders (1B) dominated; colonizers
(Maturity Index=2) were extremely dominant in the canyon while persisters
(MI>3) disappeared.