Chemoautotrophy, symbiosis and sedimented diatoms support high biomass of benthic molluscs in the Namibian shelf.

ABSTRACT: The molluscs Lucinoma capensis, Lembulus bicuspidatus and Nassarius vinctus are highly abundant in Namibian oxygen minimum zone sediments. To understand which nutritional strategies allow them to reach such impressive abundances in this extreme habitat we investigated their trophic diversity, including a chemosymbiosis in L. capensis, focussing on nitrogen biochemical pathways of the symbionts. We combined results of bulk nitrogen and carbon (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) and of compound-specific isotope analyses of amino acid nitrogen (AAs-δ¹⁵N_Phe and δ¹⁵N_Glu), with 16S rRNA gene sequencing of L. capensis tissues and also with exploratory results of ammonium, nitrate and nitrite turnover. The trophic position (TP) of the bivalve L. capens

SUBMITTER: Amorim K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9192762 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature