What difference does a century make? Shifts in the ecosystem structure of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, as evidenced from a sentinel species, the Weddell seal

• Main Authors: Hückstädt, Luis A, McCarthy, Matthew D, Koch, Paul L, Costa, Daniel P
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2017
• Subjects: Animals; Antarctic Regions; Ecosystem; Food Chain; Isotopes; Seals; Earless; Sentinel Species; Time Factors; stable isotope analysis; compound-specific stable isotope analysis; delta C-13; delta N-15; historical ecology; Leptonychotes weddellii; δ13C; δ15N; Biological Sciences; Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences; Medical and Health Sciences; Antarctic; Ross Sea; Weddell; Antarc*; Antarctica; Weddell Seal; Weddell Seals
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sn623wf

The arrival of humans to Antarctica's Ross Sea (100+ years ago) led to a slow, but sustained increase in human activities in the area. To investigate if human presence has influenced the structure of the ecosystem over the last century, we compared historical (ca 100 years old) and modern samples of a sentinel species, the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii), using both bulk tissue and compound-specific stable isotope analysis. The historical isotopic niche of Weddell seals was over five times larger than the modern niche. The isotopic values of individual amino acids showed a clear segregation between historical and modern samples, indicative of differences at the base of the trophic web. Further, we found no significant differences in the trophic position of Weddell seals between the two periods. Our study revealed that the Ross Sea has undergone detectable changes (i.e. in the primary producers community) in the last century, but the presence of humans has not disrupted trophic interactions supporting Weddell seals.