Growth and age of the Antarctic bryozoan Cellaria incula on the Weddell Sea shelf

We analysed growth of the arborescent Antarctic cheilostome bryozoan Cellaria incula by stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis. The growth of one complete branch of C. incula takes one year, i.e. owing to the bifurcate colony structure two new branches grow from each branch of the previous genera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Brey, Thomas, Gerdes, Dieter, Gutt, Julian, Mackensen, Andreas, Starmans, Andreas
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1999
Subjects:
Geology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Oceanography
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Weddell Sea
Weddell
Antarc*
Antarctic Science
Iceberg*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102099000516
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102099000516
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Summary:We analysed growth of the arborescent Antarctic cheilostome bryozoan Cellaria incula by stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis. The growth of one complete branch of C. incula takes one year, i.e. owing to the bifurcate colony structure two new branches grow from each branch of the previous generation. The maximum age of a C. incula colony is likely to be more than 14 years. Annual production-to-biomass ratio is 0.67, the highest value hitherto measured for any benthic invertebrate south of 62°S. Comparatively fast growth and high productivity identify C. incula as a pioneer species which is able to quickly occupy spatial niches produced by iceberg scouring on the Antarctic shelf.

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