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Bacteria defend carrion from scavengers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2019

Paul K. Dayton
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, mail code 0227, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
John S. Oliver
Affiliation:
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
Simon F. Thrush
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Kamille Hammerstrom*
Affiliation:
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA

Abstract

Carrion in the form of dead seal pups and algal mats placed on soft bottom habitats at Explorers Cove and Salmon Bay, McMurdo Sound, attract scavenging invertebrates that are driven away by hydrogen sulphide produced by sulphate-reducing bacteria sequestered below a layer of Beggiatoa/Thioploca-like filamentous bacteria. This system is usually found for lipid-rich marine mammal carrion, but also occurred with natural algal mats.

Type
Biological Sciences
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2019 

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