| An interdisciplinary research project was carried out to understand seasonal carbon cycling in a deep-sea ecosystem in Sagami Bay, central Japan. Temporal-changes in the chloroplastic pigment (CPE) concentration in the sediment, as well as the abundance, the biomass and the metabolic activity of benthic organisms were studied. CPE was detectable throughout the year, and its amount increased in the spring when a fluffy layer was observed on the surface of the sediment. Significant seasonal fluctuation of bacterial abundance was found, but the range was small, the maximal value being only 1.6 times larger than the minimal one. Metabolic activity did not show significant temporal difference. The abundance and biomass of metazoan meiofauna seemed to fluctuate... |
