Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-f6s65 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-15T01:35:12.429Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of sediment deposition and iceberg scour on the Antarctic soft shell clam Laternula elliptica at King George Island, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2011

Eva E.R. Philipp ,
Gunnar Husmann  and
Doris Abele
Eva E.R. Philipp*
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Gunnar Husmann
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Doris Abele
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
*
e.philipp@ikmb.uni-kiel.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent rapid changes of air temperature on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula results in increased sediment discharge and ice scouring frequencies in coastal regions. These changes are bound to especially affect slow growing, sessile filter feeders such as the Antarctic bivalve, Laternula elliptica, a long-lived and abundant key species with circumpolar distribution. We investigated the effect of sedimentation and ice scouring on small/young and large/old individuals at two closely located stations, distinctly influenced by both types of disturbance. Small individuals dealt better with disturbance in terms of their respiratory response to sediment exposure, reburrowing ability, and survival after injury, compared to larger animals. At the more disturbed station L. elliptica population density was lower, but larger animals reburrowed faster after iceberg disturbance and reduced their metabolic rate under strong sediment coverage, compared to larger animals of the less disturbed station, indicating that an adaptation or learning response to both types of disturbance may be possible. Smaller individuals were not influenced. Laternula elliptica seems capable of coping with the rapidly changing environmental conditions. Due to a decrease in population density and mean population lifespan, L. elliptica could however lose its key role in the bentho-pelagic carbon flux in areas of high sediment deposition.

Keywords

Antarctic Peninsulaclimate changefilter feederssedimentationSouth Shetland Islands

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 127 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abele, D., Brey, T. Philipp, E.E.R. 2009. Bivalve models of aging and the determination of molluscan lifespans. Experimental Gerontology, 44, 307–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ahn, I.Y. 1993. Enhanced particle flux through the biodeposition by the Antarctic suspension-feeding bivalve Laternula elliptica in Marian Cove, King George Island. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 171, 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahn, I.Y. 1994. Ecology of the Antarctic bivalve Laternula elliptica (King & Broderip) in Collins Harbour, King George Island: benthic environmental and an adaptive strategy. Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research, 50, 1–10.Google Scholar
Aldridge, D.W., Payne, B.S. Miller, A.C. 1987. The effects of intermittent exposure to suspended solids and turbulence on three species of freshwater mussels. Environmental Pollution, 45, 17–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alexander, J.E., Thorp, J.H. Fell, R.D. 1994. Turbidity and temperature effects on oxygen consumption in the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 51, 179–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. 1999. The influence of ice on polar nearshore benthos. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79, 401–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. Conlan, K.E. 2007. Disturbance, colonization and development of Antarctic benthic communities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B362, 11–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A., Fuentes, V., Clarke, A., Schloss, I.R. Wallace, M.I. 2006. Spatial and temporal variation in shallow seawater temperatures around Antarctica. Deep Sea Research II, 53, 853–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, B.B. Krause, D.J. 1984. The concentration and isotopic fractionation of oxygen dissolved in freshwater and seawater in equilibrium with the atmosphere. Limnology and Oceanography, 29, 620–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, K.M., Fraser, K.P.P., Barnes, D.K.A. Peck, L.S. 2004. Links between the structure of an Antarctic shallow-water community and ice-scour frequency. Oecologia, 141, 121–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davenport, J. 1988. The feeding mechanism of Yoldia (=Aequiyoldia) eightsi (Courthouy). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 13, 431–442.Google Scholar
De Laca, T.E. Lipps, J.H. 1976. Shallow-water marine associations, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 11(1), 12–20.Google Scholar
Dierssen, H.M., Smith, R.C. Vernet, M. 2002. Glacial meltwater dynamics in coastal waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States, 99, 1790–1795.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dominguez, C. Eraso, A. 2007. Substantial changes happened during the last years in the icecap of King George, insular Antarctica. In Tyk, A. & Stefaniak, K., eds. Karst and cryokarst. Studies of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, 45, 87–110.Google Scholar
Ducklow, H.W., Baker, K., Martinson, D.M., Quetin, L.B., Ross, R.M., Smith, R.C., Stammerjohn, S.E., Vernet, M. Fraser, W. 2007. Marine pelagic ecosystems: the west Antarctic Peninsula. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B362, 67–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutt, J. 2001. On the direct impact of ice on marine benthic communities: a review. Polar Biology, 24, 553–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holte, B. Gulliksen, B. 1998. Common macrofaunal dominant species in the sediments of some north Norwegian and Svalbard glacial fjords. Polar Biology, 19, 375–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P.O. Neyman, J. 1936. Tests of certain linear hypotheses and their application to some educational problems. Statistical Research Memoirs, 1, 57–93.Google Scholar
Klöser, H., Ferreyra, G., Schloss, I., Mercuri, G., Laturnus, F. Curtosi, A. 1994. Hydrography of Potter Cove, a small fjord-like inlet on King George Island (South Shetland Islands). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 38, 523–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madon, S.P., Schneider, D.W., Stoeckel, J.A. Sparks, R.E. 1998. Effects of inorganic sediment and food concentrations on energetic processes of the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha: implications for growth in turbid rivers. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 55, 401–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meredith, M.P. King, J.C. 2006. Rapid climate change in the ocean west of the Antarctic Peninsula during the second half of the 20th century. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, 10.1029/2005GL024042.Google Scholar
Moline, M., Claustre, H., Frazer, T.K., Schofields, O. Vernet, M. 2004. Alteration of the food web along the Antarctic Peninsula in response to a regional warming trend. Global Change Biology, 10, 1973–1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Momo, F., Kowalke, J., Schloss, I., Mercuri, G. Ferreyra, G.A. 2002. The role of Laternula elliptica in the energy budget of Potter Cove (King George Island, Antarctica). Ecological Modelling, 155, 43–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morley, S., Peck, L., Miller, A. Pörtner, H. 2007. Hypoxia tolerance associated with activity reduction is a key adaptation for Laternula elliptica seasonal energetics. Oecologia, 153, 29–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peck, L.S. Bullough, L.W. 1993. Growth and population structure in the infaunal bivalve Yoldia eightsi in relation to iceberg activity at Signy Island, Antarctica. Marine Biology, 117, 235–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, L.S., Webb, K.E. Bailey, D.M. 2004. Extreme sensitivity of biological function to temperature in Antarctic marine species. Functional Ecology, 18, 625–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, L.S., Brockington, S., Vanhove, S. Beghyn, M. 1999. Community recovery following catastrophic iceberg impacts in a soft-sediment shallow-water site at Signy Island, Antarctica. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 186, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rau, F. Braun, M. 2002. The regional distribution of the dry-snow zone on the Antarctic Peninsula north of 70°S. Annals of Glaciology, 34, 95–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smale, D.A. Barnes, D.K.A. 2008. Likely responses of the Antarctic benthos to climate-related changes in physical disturbance during the 21st century, based primarily on evidence from the west Antarctic Peninsula region. Ecography, 31, 289–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smale, D.A., Barnes, D.K.A. Fraser, K.P. 2007. The influence of ice scour on benthic communities at three contrasting sites at Adelaide Island, Antarctica. Austral Ecology, 32, 878–888.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steig, E.J., Schneider, D.P., Rutherford, S.D., Mann, M.E., Comiso, J.C. Shindell, D.T. 2009. Warming of the Antarctic ice sheet surface since the1957 International Geophysical Year. Nature, 457, 459–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, P.M. 1987. Response of excised gill tissue from the New Zealand scallop Pecten novaezelandiae to suspended silt. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 21, 605–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summers, R.B., Thorp, J.H., Alexander, J.E. Fell, R.D. 1996. Respiratory adjustment of dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis) in response to chronic turbidity. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 53, 1626–1631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syvitski, J.P.M., Farrow, G.E., Atkinson, R.J.A., Moore, P.G. Andrews, J.T. 1989. Baffin Island fjord macrobenthos: bottom communities and environmental significance. Arctic, 42, 232–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, J., Colwell, S.R., Marshall, G.J., Lachlan-Cope, T.A., Carleton, A.M., Jomes, P.D., Lagun, V., Reid, P.A. Iagovkina, S. 2005. Antarctic climate change during the last 50 years. International Journal of Climatology, 25, 279–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urban, J. Mercuri, G. 1998. Population dynamics of the bivalve Laternula elliptica from Potter Cove, King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Antarctic Science, 10, 153–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varela, L. 1998. Hydrology of Matias and Potter creeks. In Wiencke, C., Ferreyra, G., Arntz, W. & Rinaldi, C., eds. The Potter Cove coastal ecosystem, Antarctica. Reports on Polar Research, 299, 33–39.Google Scholar
Vaughan, D.G. 2006. Recent trends in melting conditions on the Antarctic Peninsula and their implications for ice sheet mass balance and sea level. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 38, 147–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, D.G., Marshall, G.J., Connolley, W.M., Parkinson, C., Mulvaney, R., Hodgson, D.A., King, J.C., Pudsey, C.J. Turner, J. 2003. Recent rapid regional climate warming on the Antarctic Peninsula. Climatic Change, 60, 243–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, C.R. 2003. Allometric analysis beyond heterogeneous regression slopes: use of the Johnson-Neyman technique in comparative biology. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 76, 135–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehouse, M.J., Meredith, M.P., Rothery, P., Atkinson, A., Ward, P. Korb, R.E. 2008. Rapid warming of the ocean around South Georgia, Southern Ocean, during the 20th century: forcings, characteristics and implications for lower trophic levels. Deep Sea Research I, 55, 1218–1228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlodarska-Kowalczuk, M., Pearson, T.H. Kendall, M.A. 2005. Benthic response to chronic natural physical disturbance by glacial sedimentation in an Arctic fjord. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 303, 31–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zamorano, J.H., Duarte, W.E. Moreno, C.A. 1986. Predation upon Laternula elliptica (Bivalvia, Anatinidae): a field manipulation in South Bay, Antarctica. Polar Biology, 6, 139–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziuganov, V., Miguel, E.S., Neves, R.J., Longa, A., Fernandez, C., Amaro, R., Beletsky, V., Popkovitch, E., Kaliuzhin, S. Johnson, T. 2000. Life span variation of the freshwater pearl shell: a model species for testing longevity mechanisms in animals. Ambio, 29, 102–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Philipp Supplementary Material

Philipp Supplementary Material

Download Philipp Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 63.7 KB