Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses
The Antarctic Peninsula is among the places on Earth that registered major warming in the last 60 yr. Massive ice losses, represented by glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapses and sea-ice reduction are among the main impacts of this regional warming. The loss of sea-bed ice coverage, on the one hand h...
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ftconicet:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/56935 2023-10-09T21:45:04+02:00 Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses Lagger, Cristian Fabian Nime, Mónica Fernanda Torre, Luciana Servetto, Natalia Tatian, Marcos Sahade, Ricardo Jose application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56935 eng eng Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/ecog.03018 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/ecog.03018 http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56935 Lagger, Cristian Fabian; Nime, Mónica Fernanda; Torre, Luciana; Servetto, Natalia; Tatian, Marcos; et al.; Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Ecography; 41; 4; 4-2018; 579-591 0906-7590 1600-0587 CONICET Digital CONICET info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ ANTARCTICA NEW IDE-FREE AREAS BENTHOS https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion ftconicet https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03018 2023-09-24T19:39:29Z The Antarctic Peninsula is among the places on Earth that registered major warming in the last 60 yr. Massive ice losses, represented by glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapses and sea-ice reduction are among the main impacts of this regional warming. The loss of sea-bed ice coverage, on the one hand has been affecting benthic assemblages, but on the other it is opening up new areas for benthic colonisation. Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands) offered the opportunity of assessing both processes. We recently reported a sudden shift of benthic assemblages related to increased sedimentation rates caused by glacier retreat. This glacier retreat also uncovered a new island that presents a natural experiment to study Antarctic benthic colonisation and succession. We sampled the new island by photo-transects taken up to 30 m depth. Here, we report an unexpected benthic assemblage characterised by high species richness, diversity and structural complexity with a well-developed three-dimensional structure and epibiotic relationships. Filter feeders comprised the largest trophic group at all depths, mainly ascidians, sponges and bryozoans. Densities were also surprising, recording only six ascidian species with a mean of ∼310 ind. m–2. These values are at least an order of magnitude higher than previous Antarctic reports on early colonisation. This finding challenges the extended idea of a slow and continuous recruitment in Antarctica. However, it also opens the question of whether these complex assemblages could have been present under the glacier in ice-free refuges that are now exposed to open sea conditions. Under the current scenario of climate change, these results acquire high relevance as they suggest a two-fold effect of the Antarctic Peninsula warming: the environmental shifts that threaten coastal ecosystems, and also the opening up of new areas for colonisation that may occur at a previously unimagined speed. Fil: Lagger, Cristian Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice South Shetland Islands CONICET Digital (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Potter Cove Ecography 41 4 579 591 |
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Open Polar |
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CONICET Digital (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) |
op_collection_id |
ftconicet |
language |
English |
topic |
ANTARCTICA NEW IDE-FREE AREAS BENTHOS https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
spellingShingle |
ANTARCTICA NEW IDE-FREE AREAS BENTHOS https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 Lagger, Cristian Fabian Nime, Mónica Fernanda Torre, Luciana Servetto, Natalia Tatian, Marcos Sahade, Ricardo Jose Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
topic_facet |
ANTARCTICA NEW IDE-FREE AREAS BENTHOS https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
description |
The Antarctic Peninsula is among the places on Earth that registered major warming in the last 60 yr. Massive ice losses, represented by glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapses and sea-ice reduction are among the main impacts of this regional warming. The loss of sea-bed ice coverage, on the one hand has been affecting benthic assemblages, but on the other it is opening up new areas for benthic colonisation. Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands) offered the opportunity of assessing both processes. We recently reported a sudden shift of benthic assemblages related to increased sedimentation rates caused by glacier retreat. This glacier retreat also uncovered a new island that presents a natural experiment to study Antarctic benthic colonisation and succession. We sampled the new island by photo-transects taken up to 30 m depth. Here, we report an unexpected benthic assemblage characterised by high species richness, diversity and structural complexity with a well-developed three-dimensional structure and epibiotic relationships. Filter feeders comprised the largest trophic group at all depths, mainly ascidians, sponges and bryozoans. Densities were also surprising, recording only six ascidian species with a mean of ∼310 ind. m–2. These values are at least an order of magnitude higher than previous Antarctic reports on early colonisation. This finding challenges the extended idea of a slow and continuous recruitment in Antarctica. However, it also opens the question of whether these complex assemblages could have been present under the glacier in ice-free refuges that are now exposed to open sea conditions. Under the current scenario of climate change, these results acquire high relevance as they suggest a two-fold effect of the Antarctic Peninsula warming: the environmental shifts that threaten coastal ecosystems, and also the opening up of new areas for colonisation that may occur at a previously unimagined speed. Fil: Lagger, Cristian Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lagger, Cristian Fabian Nime, Mónica Fernanda Torre, Luciana Servetto, Natalia Tatian, Marcos Sahade, Ricardo Jose |
author_facet |
Lagger, Cristian Fabian Nime, Mónica Fernanda Torre, Luciana Servetto, Natalia Tatian, Marcos Sahade, Ricardo Jose |
author_sort |
Lagger, Cristian Fabian |
title |
Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
title_short |
Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
title_full |
Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
title_fullStr |
Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses |
title_sort |
climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on antarctic benthic responses |
publisher |
Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56935 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Potter Cove |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Potter Cove |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice South Shetland Islands |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/ecog.03018 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/ecog.03018 http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56935 Lagger, Cristian Fabian; Nime, Mónica Fernanda; Torre, Luciana; Servetto, Natalia; Tatian, Marcos; et al.; Climate change, glacier retreat and a new ice-free island offer new insights on Antarctic benthic responses; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Ecography; 41; 4; 4-2018; 579-591 0906-7590 1600-0587 CONICET Digital CONICET |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03018 |
container_title |
Ecography |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
579 |
op_container_end_page |
591 |
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1779315758520598528 |