Seasonality in deep-sea food webs—A tribute to the early works of Paul Tyler

A numerical simulation has been constructed that illustrates the vertical biological pathways of carbon fluxes from the surface down through the entire water column to the Sigsbee Abyssal Plain at a depth of 3.7 km in the central Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Seasonal production of particulate organic carbon (POC) in a six month long pulse is delivered with lag times that reflect sinking rates of the POC and time-dependent incorporation of the POC into biomass by the pelagic and the benthic biota. The model illustrates that the seasonal variations in carbon and energy are transmitted down the water column and, in the model, are reflected in subdued but distinct variations in pelagic and benthic respiration and biomass; the amount reaching the bottom is adequate to support the variable growth patterns of numerous shell-bearing invertebrates on the deep-sea floor described by Paul Tyler and John Gage. A notable realization is the profound lack of information on the biomass and bioenergetics of the deep abyssopelagic biota in the GoM.