Role of suspension feeders in antarctic pelagic-benthic coupling: Trophic ecology and potential carbon sinks under climate change

• Published in: Marine Environmental Research
• Main Authors: Alurralde, Roque Gastón, Fuentes, Verónica Lorena, Maggioni, Tamara, Movilla, Juancho, Olariaga, Alejandro, Orejas, Covadonga, Schloss, Irene Ruth, Tatián, Marcos
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: ABSORPTION EFFICIENCY; BIODEPOSITION; CARBON SINK; CNEMIDOCARPA VERRUCOSA; EUPHAUSIA SUPERBA; FAECAL PRODUCTION; POTTER COVE; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Potter Cove; Argentina; Antarc*; Euphausia superba; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/125662

Sea-ice and coastal glacier loss in the Western Antarctic Peninsula open new ice-free areas. They allowing primary production and providing new seabed for colonisation, both acting as a negative feedback of climate change. However, the injection of sediment-laden runoff from the melting of land-terminating glaciers may reduce this feedback. Changes in particulate matter will affect nutrition and excretion (faeces stoichiometry and properties) of suspension feeders, reshaping coastal carbon dynamics and pelagic-benthic coupling. Absorption efficiency and biodeposition of Euphausia superba and Cnemidocarpa verrucosa were quantified for different food treatments and varying sediment concentrations. Both species showed high overall absorption efficiency for free-sediment diets, but were negatively affected by sediment addition. High sediment conditions increased krill biodeposition, while it decreased in ascidians. Energy balance estimation indicated high carbon sink potential in ascidians, but it is modulated by food characteristics and negatively affected by sediment inputs in the water column. Fil: Alurralde, Roque Gastón. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; Argentina Fil: Fuentes, Verónica Lorena. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; España Fil: Maggioni, Tamara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; Argentina Fil: Movilla, Juancho. Instituto Español de Oceanografía; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; España Fil: Olariaga, Alejandro. ...