Characterisation of the Nematode Community of a Low-Activity Cold Seep in the Recently Ice-Shelf Free Larsen B Area, Eastern Antarctic Peninsula

Background: Recent climate-induced ice-shelf disintegration in the Larsen A (1995) and B (2002) areas along the Eastern Antarctic Peninsula formed a unique opportunity to assess sub-ice-shelf benthic community structure and led to the discovery of unexplored habitats, including a low-activity methane seep beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf. Since both limited particle sedimentation under previously permanent ice coverage and reduced cold-seep activity are likely toinfluence benthic meiofauna communities, we characterised the nematode assemblage of this low-activity cold seep and compared it with other, now seasonally ice-free, Larsen A and B stations and other Antarctic shelf areas (Weddell Sea and Drake Passage), as well as cold-seep ecosystems world-wide.Principal Findings: The nematode community at the Larsen B seep site differed significantly from other Antarctic sites in terms of dominant genera, diversity and abundance. Densities in the seep samples were high (.2000 individuals per 10 cm2) and showed below-surface maxima at a sediment depth of 2–3 cm in three out of four replicates. All samples were dominated by one species of the family Monhysteridae, which was identified as a Halomonhystera species that comprised between 80 and 86% of the total community. The combination of high densities, deeper density maxima and dominance of one species is shared by many cold-seep ecosystems world-wide and suggested a possible dependence upon a chemosynthetic food source. Yet stable 13C isotopic signals (ranging between 221.9760.86% and 224.8561.89%) were indicative of a phytoplankton-derived food source.Conclusion: The recent ice-shelf collapse and enhanced food input from surface phytoplankton blooms were responsible for the shift from oligotrophic pre-collapse conditions to a phytodetritus-based community with high densities and low diversity. The parthenogenetic reproduction of the highly dominant Halomonhystera species is rather unusual for marine nematodes and may be responsible for the successful colonisation by this single species

Food source diversity, trophic plasticity, and omnivory enhance the stability of a shallow benthic food web from a high-Arctic fjord exposed to freshwater inputs

WOS:000612491200001International audienceUnder climate change, many Arctic coastal ecosystems receive increasing amounts of freshwater, with ecological consequences that remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how freshwater inputs may affect the small-scale structure of benthic food webs in a low-production high-Arctic fjord (Young Sound, NE Greenland). We seasonally sampled benthic invertebrates from two stations receiving contrasting freshwater inputs: an inner station exposed to turbid and nutrient-depleted freshwater flows and an outer station exposed to lower terrestrial influences. Benthic food web structure was described using a stable isotope approach (delta C-13 and delta N-15), Bayesian models, and community-wide metrics. The results revealed the spatially and temporally homogeneous structure of the benthic food web, characterized by high trophic diversity (i.e., a wide community isotopic niche). Such temporal stability and spatial homogeneity mirrors the high degree of trophic plasticity and omnivory of benthic consumers that allows the maintenance of several carbon pathways through the food web despite different food availability. Furthermore, potential large inputs of shelf organic matter together with local benthic primary production (i.e., macroalgae and presumably microphytobenthos) may considerably increase the stability of the benthic food web by providing alternative food sources to locally runoff-impacted pelagic primary production. Future studies should assess beyond which threshold limit a larger increase in freshwater inputs might cancel out these stability factors and lead to marked changes in Arctic benthic ecosystems

Production and Biomass of Seaweeds in Newly Ice-Free Areas: Implications for Coastal Processes in a Changing Antarctic Environment

The Antarctic rocky coasts are mainly colonized by extensive seaweed communities, which play key roles as food resource, habitat, and refuge for many benthic and pelagic organisms. Due to climate warming, Antarctic marine ecosystems are being affected by glacier retreat opening new habitats, e.g., newly ice-free areas that can be colonized by macroalgae. As a consequence, primary production and fate of macroalgae are changing in these new polar environments. In these ecosystems,the carbon production, especially from large brown algae, is an important food source to the benthic invertebrate communities mainly when other resources are scarce. Thus, in new areas colonized by seaweeds, the trophic structure and biogeochemical fluxes can vary considerably. Moreover, when seaweeds die or are removed by water movement, ice scouring, or storms, they are detached, fragmented,and degraded, incorporating and releasing particulate and dissolved organic matter to the coastal food webs, i.e., they support a large fraction of the secondary production of the benthos. The present chapter is a review of the knowledge on seaweed biomass and production in the coastal Antarctic ecosystem opening a discussion on the role of these organisms as main energy sources in, e.g., small fjords and glacier-influenced sites, impacted by recent climatic change.Fil: Quartino, Maria Liliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Saravia, Leonardo Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Instituto de Ciencias; ArgentinaFil: Campana, Gabriela Laura. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Deregibus, Dolores. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Matua, Carolina V.. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Boraso, Alicia Lilian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Momo, Fernando Roberto. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Instituto de Ciencias; Argentin

Polychaete assemblages of the northwestern Ross Sea shelf: worming out the environmental drivers of Antarctic macrobenthic assemblage composition

We have limited understanding of which environmental factors structure the distribution patterns and composition of Antarctic macrobenthos assemblages, and the spatial scales on which such factors operate. In 2004, the “BioRoss Survey” was conducted on the northwestern Ross Sea shelf between Cape Adare and Cape Hallett in depths of 50–750 m to describe and quantify the assemblage patterns of benthic macroinvertebrates. In order to determine the influence of primary productivity, disturbance and habitat heterogeneity on the distribution and composition of the macrofaunal assemblages, polychaete data derived from 52 grab samples were analysed. Although differences in the composition of polychaete assemblages among different sampling transects and depth strata were not particularly pronounced (yet statistically significant), the results suggested that large-scale differences in both primary productivity and iceberg disturbance influence distribution patterns. The combination of sediment chl a content, sorting coefficient, sponge spicule content and distance to the nearest iceberg scour best explained polychaete assemblage patterns. This finding supports previous contentions that multiple environmental drivers working at varying scales influence Antarctic shelf assemblages. The results do not supply support for a pronounced decoupling of pelagic and benthic systems, as has been suggested by another study of deeper water benthic assemblages on the Ross Sea shelf