@article {ISI:000345703500011,
	title = {{Seven-year enrichment: macrofaunal succession in deep-sea sediments around a 30 tonne whale fall in the Northeast Pacific}},
	journal = {MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES},
	volume = {515},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {133{\textendash}149},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {Whale falls cause massive organic and sulfide enrichment of underlying sediments, yielding energy-rich conditions in oligotrophic deep-sea ecosystems. While the fauna colonizing whale skeletons has received substantial study, sediment macrofaunal community response to the geochemical impacts of deep-sea whale falls remains poorly evaluated. We present a 7 yr case study of geochemical impacts, macrofaunal community succession, and chemoautotrophic community persistence in sediments around a 30 t gray-whale carcass implanted at 1675 m in the well-oxygenated Santa Cruz Basin on the California margin. The whale fall yielded intense, patchy organic-carbon enrichment ({\textgreater}15{\%} organic carbon) and pore-water sulfide enhancement ({\textgreater}5 mM) in nearby sediments for 6 to 7 yr, supporting a dense assemblage of enrichment opportunists and chemosymbiotic vesicomyid clams. Faunal succession in the whale-fall sediments resembled the scavenger-opportunist-sulfophile sequence previously described for epifaunal communities on sunken whale skeletons. The intense response of enrichment opportunists functionally resembles responses to organic loading in shallow-water ecosystems, such as at sewer outfalls and fish farms. Of 100 macrofaunal species in the whale-fall sediments, 10 abundant species were unique to whale falls; 6 species were shared with cold seeps, 5 with hydrothermal vents, and 12 with nearby kelp and wood falls. Thus, whale-fall sediments may provide dispersal stepping stones for some generalized reducing-habitat species but also support distinct macrofaunal assemblages and contribute significantly to beta diversity in deep-sea ecosystems.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle)},
	issn = {0171-8630},
	doi = {10.3354/meps10955},
	author = {Smith, Craig R and Bernardino, Angelo F and Baco, Amy and Hannides, Angelos and Altamira, Iris}
}
