Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Abstract On the continental shelf of the Antarctic the major disturbance to benthic ecosystems is from iceberg scouring; however, this is based on observations from the Peninsula region. We combine observation and experimentation in the McMurdo Sound region of the Ross Sea to determine if community...

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Published in:Polar Record
Main Authors: Kim, Stacy, Collins, Clint A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000048
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000048
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spelling crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247421000048 2024-10-13T14:02:38+00:00 Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Kim, Stacy Collins, Clint A. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000048 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000048 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 57 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000048 2024-09-18T04:03:45Z Abstract On the continental shelf of the Antarctic the major disturbance to benthic ecosystems is from iceberg scouring; however, this is based on observations from the Peninsula region. We combine observation and experimentation in the McMurdo Sound region of the Ross Sea to determine if community recovery patterns there are similar to those in better-studied Antarctic regions, and if local immigration is an important factor in recovery dynamics. We found that regardless of habitat differences in depth, substrate, and oceanographic setting, iceberg disturbance strongly impacted benthic communities in McMurdo Sound. Notably, in shallow water (<30 m) where anchor ice is an annual disturbance, both the benthic communities and recovery processes were more variable than at deeper locations. A manipulative experiment performed in a shallow area indicated that recruitment might be more important than immigration to infaunal community recovery. We conclude that whilst disturbance frequency influences dominant epifauna, recovery from iceberg disturbance is a slow ecological progression that is dependent on the extremely inconsistent recruitment processes of the high Antarctic benthic ecosystem. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Iceberg* McMurdo Sound Polar Record Ross Sea Cambridge University Press Antarctic McMurdo Sound Ross Sea The Antarctic Polar Record 57
institution Open Polar
collection Cambridge University Press
op_collection_id crcambridgeupr
language English
description Abstract On the continental shelf of the Antarctic the major disturbance to benthic ecosystems is from iceberg scouring; however, this is based on observations from the Peninsula region. We combine observation and experimentation in the McMurdo Sound region of the Ross Sea to determine if community recovery patterns there are similar to those in better-studied Antarctic regions, and if local immigration is an important factor in recovery dynamics. We found that regardless of habitat differences in depth, substrate, and oceanographic setting, iceberg disturbance strongly impacted benthic communities in McMurdo Sound. Notably, in shallow water (<30 m) where anchor ice is an annual disturbance, both the benthic communities and recovery processes were more variable than at deeper locations. A manipulative experiment performed in a shallow area indicated that recruitment might be more important than immigration to infaunal community recovery. We conclude that whilst disturbance frequency influences dominant epifauna, recovery from iceberg disturbance is a slow ecological progression that is dependent on the extremely inconsistent recruitment processes of the high Antarctic benthic ecosystem.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Kim, Stacy
Collins, Clint A.
spellingShingle Kim, Stacy
Collins, Clint A.
Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
author_facet Kim, Stacy
Collins, Clint A.
author_sort Kim, Stacy
title Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
title_short Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
title_full Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
title_fullStr Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
title_full_unstemmed Iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
title_sort iceberg disturbance to benthic communities in mcmurdo sound, antarctica
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
publishDate 2021
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000048
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000048
geographic Antarctic
McMurdo Sound
Ross Sea
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
McMurdo Sound
Ross Sea
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Iceberg*
McMurdo Sound
Polar Record
Ross Sea
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Iceberg*
McMurdo Sound
Polar Record
Ross Sea
op_source Polar Record
volume 57
ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057
op_rights https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000048
container_title Polar Record
container_volume 57
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