Biomass and associations of benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove (King George Island, Antarctica) related to depth and substrate.
The biomass of the benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove was studied along a depth profile across different substrates during Antarctic summer. Macroalgal associations were identified by means of cluster analysis. Twenty-two species have been found in the study site, approximately hal...
| Published in: | Polar Biology |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2001
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/4025/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000000218 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.14603 |
| Summary: | The biomass of the benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove was studied along a depth profile across different substrates during Antarctic summer. Macroalgal associations were identified by means of cluster analysis. Twenty-two species have been found in the study site, approximately half of the species present in the area. This paucity may be ex-plained by the strong preponderance of the brown algae Desmarestia anceps and D. menziesii, which are able to exclude other species by competition for light. The mean bio-mass of all macroalgae was 1390 g DW/m2 ± 1787 g DW/m2. Nine macroalgal asso-ciations were identified with different preferences for depth, substrate and the degree of expo-sure. Overall, there was a tendency of macroalgae to grow on fine substrates with increasing depth. Species rich-ness decreased at 20m depth, probably due to limiting light conditions. The results are discussed with respect to previ-ous studies in East and West Antarctica. |
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