Antarctic shallow water benthos from three stations at Potter Cove, King George Island, West Antarctic Peninsula ...
The West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. Faster glacier retreat and related calving events lead to more frequent iceberg scouring, fresh water input and higher sediment loads, which in turn affect shallow water benthic marine assemblages in coastal regions. In add...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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PANGAEA
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.815196 https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.815196 |
| Summary: | The West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. Faster glacier retreat and related calving events lead to more frequent iceberg scouring, fresh water input and higher sediment loads, which in turn affect shallow water benthic marine assemblages in coastal regions. In addition, ice retreat creates new benthic substrates for colonization. We investigated three size classes of benthic biota (microbenthos, meiofauna and macrofauna) at three sites in Potter Cove (King George Island, West Antarctic Peninsula) situated at similar water depths but experiencing different disturbance regimes related to glacier retreat. Our results revealed the presence of a patchy distribution of highly divergent benthic assemblages within a relatively small area (about 1 km**2). In areas with frequent ice scouring and higher sediment accumulation rates, an assemblage mainly dominated by macrobenthic scavengers (such as the polychaete Barrukia cristata), vagile organisms and younger individuals of sessile ... : Supplement to: Pasotti, Francesca; Manini, Elena; Giovannelli, Donato; Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin; Monien, Donata; Verleyen, Elie; Braeckman, Ulrike; Abele, Doris; Vanreusel, Ann (2015): Antarctic shallow water benthos in an area of recent rapid glacier retreat. Marine Ecology, 36(3), 716-733 ... |
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