The occurrence of the copepods Stephos longj’es (Calanoida) and Drescheriella glacialis (Harpacticoida) in summer sea ice

• Main Authors: In The Weddell Sea, Sigrid Schnack-schiel, David N. Thomas, Christian Haas, Gerhard S. Dieckmann
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Key words; copepods; Drescheriella glacialis; sea ice; seasonality; Stephos longipes; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea; Weddell; Antarc*; Sea ice; Copepods
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.174.3379; http://www.bangor.ac.uk/%7Eoss102/Schiel2001a.pdf

Abstract: In January toMarch 1997, aRVPolarstern cruise that transected the Weddell Searesultedin samples being taken in thck pack ice in the south-eastern Weddell Sea and then along the marginal ice edge towards the Antarctic Peninsula. Several ice types were thus sampled over a wide geographic area during late summer/early autumn. Common features of the first warm period was the Occurrence of surface ponds, and that many floes had quasi-continuous horizontal gaps, underlying a layer of ice and metamorphic snow. With the onset of cold air temperatures in late February the gaps rapidly refroze. The calanoid copepod Stephos longipes occurred in all habitats encountered and showed highest numbers in the surface ice in summer, in the gap water duringboth seasons and in the refrozen gap water in autumn. Nauplii outnumbered copepodids in the surface ice and refrozen gap water, while in the gap water copepodids, mainly stages CI-CIII in summer and CII-CIV in autumn, comprised about 70 % of the total population. The harpacticoid species Dvescheriellaglacialis dld not occur in all habitats and was missing in surface ponds and new ice. Nauplii of D. glacialis were rarely found in gap water, but predominated in the refrozen gaps.