Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf
Abstract Ice retreat in West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula has led to important changes in seafloor communities and gains in benthic blue carbon. In most of the Antarctic, however, sea ice increased between the 1970s and 2014, but its effects on the benthos remain largely unexplored. Here, we p...
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2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z 2023-05-15T14:11:06+02:00 Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf Pineda-Metz, Santiago E. A. Gerdes, Dieter Richter, Claudio 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Nature Communications volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z 2022-01-04T14:20:24Z Abstract Ice retreat in West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula has led to important changes in seafloor communities and gains in benthic blue carbon. In most of the Antarctic, however, sea ice increased between the 1970s and 2014, but its effects on the benthos remain largely unexplored. Here, we provide a 1988–2014 record of macro- and megafauna from the north-eastern Weddell Sea shelf, where benthic biomass decreased by two thirds and composition shifted from suspension feeders to deposit feeders. Concomitant increases in sea-ice cover suggest a reduced flux of primary production to the benthos. As benthic communities are major repositories for Antarctic biodiversity and play an important role in biogeochemical cycling, the observed changes have far-reaching consequences for the Antarctic ecosystem and its feedback to the climate system. The findings underscore the importance of long-term ecological monitoring in a region vulnerable to warming and ice-shelf collapse. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Weddell Sea West Antarctica Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea West Antarctica Nature Communications 11 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
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General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry Pineda-Metz, Santiago E. A. Gerdes, Dieter Richter, Claudio Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
topic_facet |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
description |
Abstract Ice retreat in West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula has led to important changes in seafloor communities and gains in benthic blue carbon. In most of the Antarctic, however, sea ice increased between the 1970s and 2014, but its effects on the benthos remain largely unexplored. Here, we provide a 1988–2014 record of macro- and megafauna from the north-eastern Weddell Sea shelf, where benthic biomass decreased by two thirds and composition shifted from suspension feeders to deposit feeders. Concomitant increases in sea-ice cover suggest a reduced flux of primary production to the benthos. As benthic communities are major repositories for Antarctic biodiversity and play an important role in biogeochemical cycling, the observed changes have far-reaching consequences for the Antarctic ecosystem and its feedback to the climate system. The findings underscore the importance of long-term ecological monitoring in a region vulnerable to warming and ice-shelf collapse. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pineda-Metz, Santiago E. A. Gerdes, Dieter Richter, Claudio |
author_facet |
Pineda-Metz, Santiago E. A. Gerdes, Dieter Richter, Claudio |
author_sort |
Pineda-Metz, Santiago E. A. |
title |
Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
title_short |
Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
title_full |
Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
title_fullStr |
Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
title_full_unstemmed |
Benthic fauna declined on a whitening Antarctic continental shelf |
title_sort |
benthic fauna declined on a whitening antarctic continental shelf |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16093-z |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Weddell Sea West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Weddell Sea West Antarctica |
op_source |
Nature Communications volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766283220035305472 |