Breaking down the barrier: dispersal across the Antarctic Polar Front

• Published in: Ecography
• Main Authors: Fraser, Ceridwen, Kay, Geoffrey M., Plessis, Marcel du, Ryan, Peter G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Wiley
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/108870; https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02449; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/108870/4/01_Fraser_Breaking_Down_the_Barrier_2016.pdf.jpg

Our view of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) as a circum-polar biogeographic barrier is changing (Chown et al. 2015). The APF marks the convergent boundary between cold Antarctic water and warmer sub-Antarctic water, and has long been considered to prevent north-south dispersal in the Southern Ocean (reviewed by Clarke et al. 2005, Fraser et al. 2012). Our multi-year survey data provides evidence that rafting organisms readily cross the APF.