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

• 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

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.