Biological communities on the abyssal plain are largely dependent on detritus from the surface ocean as their main source of energy. Seasonal fluctuations in the deposition of that detritus cause temporal variations in the quantity and quality of food available to these communities, altering their structure and the activity of the taxa present. However, direct observations of energy acquisition in relation to detritus availability across megafaunal taxa in abyssal communities are few. We used time-lapse photography and coincident measurement of organic matter flux from water column sediment traps to examine the impact of seasonal detrital inputs on resource acquisition by the deposit feeding megafauna assemblages at two sites: Station M (Northeast Pacific, 4000 m water depth) and the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO, Northeast Atlantic 4850 m water depth). At Station M, studied over 18-months, the seasonal particle flux was followed by a salp deposition event. At that site, diversity in types of deposit feeding was related to seabed cover by detritus. At PAP-SO, studied over 30 months, the seasonal particle flux consisted of two peaks annually. While the two study sites were similar in mean flux (~8.0 mgC m⁻² d⁻¹), the seasonality in the flux was greater at PAP-SO. The mean overall tracking at PAP-SO was five times that of Station M (1.9 and 0.4 cm² h⁻¹, respectively); both are likely underestimated because tracking by some common taxa at both sites could not be quantified. At both sites, responses of deposit-feeding megafauna to the input of detritus were not consistent across the taxa studied. The numerically-dominant megafauna (e.g. echinoids, large holothurians and asteroids) did not alter their deposit feeding in relation to the seasonality in detrital supply. Taxa for which deposit feeding occurrence or rate were correlated to seasonality in particle flux were relatively uncommon (e.g. enteropneusta), known to cache food (e.g. echiurans), or to be highly selective for fresh detritus (e.g. the holothurian Oneirophanta mutabilis). Thus, the degree of seasonality in deposit feeding appeared to be taxon-specific and related to natural history characteristics such as feeding and foraging modes.

深海平原上的生物群落主要依靠来自海洋表层的碎屑作为主要能源。该碎屑沉积的季节性波动会导致这些社区可利用的食物数量和质量随时间变化，从而改变其结构和现有分类单元的活动。然而，在深海群落中，与大型动物类群中碎屑可用性相关的能量获取的直接观察很少。我们使用延时摄影和水柱沉积物陷阱的有机质通量的同步测量来研究季节性碎石投入物对两个地点的沉积物喂养大型动物群的资源获取对资源获取的影响：M站（东北太平洋，水深4000 m）和豪猪深渊平原持续观测站（PAP-SO，东北大西洋4850 m水深）。在经过18个月研究的M站，季节性颗粒通量随后发生了结垢沉积事件。在那个地点，沉积物补给类型的多样性与碎屑覆盖海床有关。在30个月的研究中，PAP-SO的季节性粒子通量每年包括两个峰值。虽然两个研究地点的平均通量相似（〜8.0 mgC m^-2 d ^-1），在PAP-SO处通量的季节性更大。PAP-SO的平均总跟踪量是站M的五倍（1.9和0.4 cm ²  h ^-1， 分别）; 两者均可能被低估，因为无法量化两个站点上某些常见分类单元的跟踪。在这两个地点，在研究的整个分类单元中，以沉积物为食的大型动物对碎屑输入的反应均不一致。数量上占主导地位的大型动物（例如棘突类动物，大型虎科动物和小行星）与碎屑供应的季节性无关，不会改变其沉积物的饲喂量。沉积物进食的发生率或速率与颗粒通量的季节性相关的分类单元相对少见（例如肠虫），已知可贮藏食物（例如棘皮动物），或对新鲜碎屑具有高度选择性（例如，整骨人的Oneirophanta mutabilis））。因此，存款喂养的季节性程度似乎是分类群特异性的，并且与自然历史特征（例如喂养和觅食模式）有关。