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Understanding the link between sea ice, ice scour and Antarctic benthic biodiversity–the need for cross-station and international collaboration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2017

D. Deregibus ,
M.L. Quartino ,
K. Zacher ,
G.L. Campana  and
D.K.A. Barnes
D. Deregibus
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, 25 de Mayo 1147 (PC 1650) San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina (dderegibus@dna.gov.ar)
M.L. Quartino
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, 25 de Mayo 1147 (PC 1650) San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘B. Rivadavia’, Av. A. Gallardo 470 (C1405DJR), Buenos Aires, Argentina
K. Zacher
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
G.L. Campana
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, 25 de Mayo 1147 (PC 1650) San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Ruta 5 y Avenida Constitución (6700), Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
D.K.A. Barnes
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
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Abstract

The western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of rapid recent regional ‘climate change’. This has resulted in a 0.4°C rise in sea temperature in the last 50 years, five days of sea ice lost per decade and increased ice scouring in the shallows. The WAP shallows are ideal for studying the biological response to physical change because most known Antarctic species are benthic, physical change occurs mainly in the shallows and most research stations are coastal. Studies at Rothera Station have found increased benthic disturbance with losses of winter sea ice and assemblage-level changes coincident with this ice scouring. Such studies are difficult to scale up as they depend on SCUBA diving – a very spatially limited technique. Here we report attempts to broaden the understanding of benthic ecosystem responses to physical change by replicating the Rothera experimental grids at Carlini Station through collaboration between the UK, Argentina and Germany across Signy, Rothera and Carlini stations. We argue that such collaborations are the way forward towards understanding the big picture of biota responses to physical climate changes at a regional scale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , March 2017 , pp. 143 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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