Sea ice presence is linked to higher carbon export and vertical microbial connectivity in the Eurasian Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean sea ice cover is shrinking due to warming. Long-term sediment trap data shows higher export efficiency of particulate organic carbon in regions with seasonal sea ice compared to regions without sea ice. To investigate this sea-ice enhanced export, we compared how different early summer...
| Published in: | Communications Biology |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/54926/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.ee4d6a2d-2355-4989-a18e-6c0568318f0b |
| Summary: | Arctic Ocean sea ice cover is shrinking due to warming. Long-term sediment trap data shows higher export efficiency of particulate organic carbon in regions with seasonal sea ice compared to regions without sea ice. To investigate this sea-ice enhanced export, we compared how different early summer phytoplankton communities in seasonally ice-free and ice-covered regions of the Fram Strait affect carbon export and vertical dispersal of microbes. In situ collected aggregates revealed two-fold higher carbon export of diatom-rich aggregates in ice-covered regions, compared to Phaeocystis aggregates in the ice-free region. Using microbial source tracking, we found that ice-covered regions were also associated with more surface-born microbial clades exported to the deep sea. Taken together, our results showed that ice-covered regions are responsible for high export efficiency and provide strong vertical microbial connectivity. Therefore, continuous sea-ice loss may decrease the vertical export efficiency, and thus the pelagic-benthic coupling, with potential repercussions for Arctic deep-sea ecosystems. |
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