Pelagic tunicates at shallow hydrothermal vents of Kueishantao

Pietro Franco; Hans-Uwe Dahms; Jiang-Shiou Hwang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225387

Pelagic tunicates at shallow hydrothermal vents of Kueishantao

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 5;14(12):e0225387. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225387. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Pietro Franco¹, Hans-Uwe Dahms^{2

3}, Jiang-Shiou Hwang^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
² Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaoshiung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁴ Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.

Abstract

The composition and abundance of the major zooplankton taxon tunicates were analyzed in a multi-year study and correlated with environmental parameters in the area around the hydrothermal vent field of Kueishantao (Turtle Island) in Taiwan. This provided the first study about tunicates above hydrothermal vents worldwide. We chose seven different stations for sample collection. Sampling was carried out in September of 2009, 2014, and 2015 (autumn) and June 2015 (summer). A total of ten tunicate species were identified belonging to the classes Appendicularia and Thaliacea during the above periods throughout the area. Considering the limited diversity of these organisms worldwide (40 species are identified in each class), we affirm that Kueishantao, a shallow water hydrothermal vent field, with 10 species provided an unexpected biodiversity hot spot for pelagic tunicates. The sampling of the organisms in the surface waters provided higher abundances compared to oblique tows. Comparing results from three autumn seasons we found that temperature values correlated with changes in tunicate abundances. We discovered strong seasonal changes in pelagic tunicate abundances over the entire survey period, with the highest abundances observed during autumn.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biodiversity*
Ecosystem
Hydrothermal Vents*
Seasons
Taiwan
Urochordata*

Grants and funding

Financial support is acknowledged from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Taiwan, through the grants no. MOST 104-2621-M-019-002, MOST 104-2611-M-019-004, MOST 105-2621-M-019-001, MOST 106-2621-M-019-001, MOST 107-2621-M-019-001 and MOST 108-2621-M-019-003, the Center of Excellence for the Oceans of National Taiwan Ocean University (CMBB 99529001A), Taiwan Power Company, Taiwan (106A32401) to JSH. We further acknowledge funding through MOST 107-2621-M-037-001 and MOST 108-2621-M-037-001 to T. H. Shih (= H-UD). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.