Follow-up of the sponge and asteroid populations at the station Larsen A south (PS69/724-1 and PS77/253-1), Antarctic Peninsula, between 2007 and 2011

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Hauptverfasser: Fillinger, Laura, Janussen, Dorte, Lundälv, Tomas, Richter, Claudio
Format: Dataset Open Access
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: PANGAEA 2013
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author Fillinger, Laura
Janussen, Dorte
Lundälv, Tomas
Richter, Claudio
author_facet Fillinger, Laura
Janussen, Dorte
Lundälv, Tomas
Richter, Claudio
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents Over 30% of the Antarctic continental shelf is permanently covered by floating ice shelves, providing aphotic conditions for a depauperate fauna sustained by laterally advected food. In much of the remaining Antarctic shallows (<300 m depth), seasonal sea-ice melting allows a patchy primary production supporting rich megabenthic communities dominated by glass sponges (Porifera, Hexactinellida). The catastrophic collapse of ice shelves due to rapid regional warming along the Antarctic Peninsula in recent decades has exposed over 23,000 km**2 of seafloor to local primary production. The response of the benthos to this unprecedented flux of food is, however, still unknown. In 2007, 12 years after disintegration of the Larsen A ice shelf, a first biological survey interpreted the presence of hexactinellids as remnants of a former under-ice fauna with deep-sea characteristics. Four years later, we revisited the original transect, finding 2- and 3-fold increases in glass sponge biomass and abundance, respectively, after only two favorable growth periods. Our findings, along with other long-term studies, suggest that Antarctic hexactinellids, locked in arrested growth for decades, may undergo boom-and-bust cycles, allowing them to quickly colonize new habitats. The cues triggering growth and reproduction in Antarctic glass sponges remain enigmatic.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_809446
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2013
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Follow-up of the sponge and asteroid populations at the station Larsen A south (PS69/724-1 and PS77/253-1), Antarctic Peninsula, between 2007 and 2011
Fillinger, Laura
Janussen, Dorte
Lundälv, Tomas
Richter, Claudio
AWI_BPP; Bentho-Pelagic Processes @ AWI
Over 30% of the Antarctic continental shelf is permanently covered by floating ice shelves, providing aphotic conditions for a depauperate fauna sustained by laterally advected food. In much of the remaining Antarctic shallows (<300 m depth), seasonal sea-ice melting allows a patchy primary production supporting rich megabenthic communities dominated by glass sponges (Porifera, Hexactinellida). The catastrophic collapse of ice shelves due to rapid regional warming along the Antarctic Peninsula in recent decades has exposed over 23,000 km**2 of seafloor to local primary production. The response of the benthos to this unprecedented flux of food is, however, still unknown. In 2007, 12 years after disintegration of the Larsen A ice shelf, a first biological survey interpreted the presence of hexactinellids as remnants of a former under-ice fauna with deep-sea characteristics. Four years later, we revisited the original transect, finding 2- and 3-fold increases in glass sponge biomass and abundance, respectively, after only two favorable growth periods. Our findings, along with other long-term studies, suggest that Antarctic hexactinellids, locked in arrested growth for decades, may undergo boom-and-bust cycles, allowing them to quickly colonize new habitats. The cues triggering growth and reproduction in Antarctic glass sponges remain enigmatic.
title Follow-up of the sponge and asteroid populations at the station Larsen A south (PS69/724-1 and PS77/253-1), Antarctic Peninsula, between 2007 and 2011
topic AWI_BPP; Bentho-Pelagic Processes @ AWI
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.809446