Midwater invertebrates in the deep pelagic ocean : Adaptations, interactions and impacts of stressors

The midwater, or deep open ocean, forms over 90% of the livable space on Earth and houses one of the largest animal communities alive. As such, midwater ecosystems form important links in oceanic food webs and play a crucial role in the regulation of our climate by keeping atmospheric carbon at depth. Yet despite their importance on a global scale, midwater ecosystems remain largely unexplored. My PhD thesis aims to investigate adaptations in midwater invertebrates, including their associations, evolution and responses to human-induced stressors. The focus was on gelatinous organisms and hyperiid amphipods, as both are highly abundant in the midwater and frequently interact. In my first chapter, I investigated the impacts of global warming and deep-sea mining induced sediment plumes on a midwater jellyfish, combining insights gained from physiology, gene expression and changes in associated microbiota. For my second chapter, I studied the interactions of hyperiid amphipods with gelatinous organisms to show how symbiotic behavior drives morphological adaptations in camouflage and eye complexity, using nearly 30 years of remotely operated vehicle observations. For my third chapter, I investigated the compound eyes in a family of closely related hyperiid amphipods (Oxycephalidae) using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to map their optics and model their vision. Here, I was able to show how fine-scale visual adaptations can elucidate visual ecology and provide insights into the evolutionary drivers of vision in midwater amphipods. All in all, my PhD emphasizes the importance of combining multiple methods to gain detailed insights into life in the largest, but least studied habitat on Earth.

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Zitierform:
Stenvers, V.I., 2025. Midwater invertebrates in the deep pelagic ocean: Adaptations, interactions and impacts of stressors.
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