Biodiversity change after climate-induced ice-shelf collapse in the Antarctic

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Gutt, Julian, Isla, Enrique, Sañé, Elisabet
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2011
• Subjects: Antarctic Peninsula; Benthos; Krill; Apex predators; Pioneer species; Deep-sea species; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Iceberg*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/48585; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.024

Julian Gutt . et al. -- 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.024 The marine ecosystem on the eastern shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula was surveyed 5 and 12 years after the climate-induced collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves. An impoverished benthic fauna was discovered, that included deep-sea species presumed to be remnants from ice-covered conditions. The current structure of various ecosystem components appears to result from extremely different response rates to the change from an oligotrophic sub-ice-shelf ecosystem to a productive shelf ecosystem. Meiobenthic communities remained impoverished only inside the embayments. On local scales, macro- and mega-epibenthic diversity was generally low, with pioneer species and typical Antarctic megabenthic shelf species interspersed. Antarctic Minke whales and seals utilised the Larsen A/B area to feed on presumably newly established krill and pelagic fish biomass. Ecosystem impacts also extended well beyond the zone of ice-shelf collapse, with areas of high benthic disturbance resulting from scour by icebergs discharged from the Larsen embayments Financial supportofANTXXIII/8 Polarstern expedition by CAML, BIANZOII, UMAC, DFGandof L.M. Gould and N.B. Palmer expeditions by NSF.Additional species identification by E.Cano (E.C.), C.DeBroyer (C.D.B.), J.-M.Gili (J.-M.G.), C.M.Lopez-Fedela Cuadra (C.M.L.), C. McClelland (C.M.), E.Rodríguez (E.R.), M.Roux (M.R.), V.Siegel, N.Teixido, H.Wägele (H.W.), helpful comments by A. Van reuse land two anonymous referees. ROV provided by MARUM/University of Bremen, oceanographic equipment by D. Gerdes.This is CAML contribution #39 Peer reviewed