WEIGHT-DEPENDENT RESPIRATION RATES IN DEEP-SEA ORGANISMS

Prediction of the contribution of the deep ecosystem to recycling of organic carbon in the global ocean requires an estimation of the carbon fluxes within the deep benthic food web and their remineralization through respiration processes. After compiling all the existing data on the respiration rate of deep benthic organisms, measured at a comparable ambient temperature (2-4 degrees C), we suggest here an allometric equation, relating individual respiration rate R (in day(-1)) to individual weight W(in mg C), i.e. R = 7.4 x 10(-3) x W--0.24. Thus we have succeeded in calculating the sediment respiration rate al an intensively sampled station at a depth of 2100 m in the N.E. Atlantic. The agreement between this theoretical estimate and another one done at the same depth in situ at a NW Atlantic station shows the reliability of our results and their value for modelling deep benthic organic carbon transfer.