Jelly-falls are marine carbon cycling events whereby gelatinous zooplankton, primarily cnidarians, sink to the seafloor and enhance carbon and nitrogen fluxes via rapidly sinking particulate organic matter.[1] These events provide nutrition to benthic megafauna and bacteria.[2][3] Jelly-falls have been implicated as a major “gelatinous pathway” for the sequestration of labile biogenic carbon through the biological pump.[4] These events are common in protected areas with high levels of primary production and water quality suitable to support cnidarian species. These areas include estuaries and several studies have been conducted in fjords of Norway.[3]
- ^ Lebrato, Mario; Pitt, Kylie A.; Sweetman, Andrew K.; Jones, Daniel O. B.; Cartes, Joan E.; Oschlies, Andreas; Condon, Robert H.; Molinero, Juan Carlos & Adler, Laetitia (2012). "Jelly-falls historic and recent observations: a review to drive future research directions". Hydrobiologia. 690 (1): 227–245. doi:10.1007/s10750-012-1046-8. S2CID 15428213.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lebrato, M. & Jones, D. O. B. (2009). "Mass deposition event of Pyrosoma atlanticum carcasses off Ivory Coast (West Africa)" (PDF). Limnology and Oceanography. 54 (4): 1197–1209. Bibcode:2009LimOc..54.1197L. doi:10.4319/lo.2009.54.4.1197.
- ^ a b Sweetman, Andrew K. & Chapman, Annelise (2011). "First observations of jelly-falls at the seafloor in a deep-sea fjord". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 58 (12): 1206–1211. Bibcode:2011DSRI...58.1206S. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2011.08.006.
- ^ Burd, Adrian. "Towards a transformative understanding of the ocean's biological pump: Priorities for future research-Report on the NSF Biology of the Biological Pump Workshop" (PDF). OCB: Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.