Spatial distribution patterns of ascidians (Ascidiacea: Tunicata) in combination with information on bathymetry, oceanography, chlorophyll-a, and sea-ice on the continental shelves off the northern Antarctic Peninsula during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXIX/3 ...

• Main Authors: Segelken-Voigt, Alexandra, Bracher, Astrid, Dorschel, Boris, Gutt, Julian, Huneke, Wilma, Link, Heike, Piepenburg, Dieter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2016
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Bransfield Strait; Drake Passage; Sea ice; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.849291; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.849291

Ascidians (Ascidiacea: Tunicata) are sessile suspension feeders that represent dominant epifaunal components of the Southern Ocean shelf benthos and play a significant role in the pelagic-benthic coupling. Here, we report the results of a first study on the relationship between the distribution patterns of eight common and/or abundant (putative) ascidian species, and environmental drivers in the waters off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. During RV Polarstern cruise XXIX/3 (PS81) in January-March 2013, we used seabed imaging surveys along 28 photographic transects of 2 km length each at water depths from 70 to 770 m in three regions (northwestern Weddell Sea, southern Bransfield Strait and southern Drake Passage), differing in their general environmental setting, primarily oceanographic characteristics and sea-ice dynamics, to comparatively analyze the spatial patterns in the abundance of the selected ascidians, reliably to be identified in the photographs, at three nested spatial scales. At a regional ... : Supplement to: Segelken-Voigt, Alexandra; Bracher, Astrid; Dorschel, Boris; Gutt, Julian; Huneke, Wilma; Link, Heike; Piepenburg, Dieter (2016): Spatial distribution patterns of ascidians (Ascidiacea: Tunicata) on the continental shelves off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biology, 39(5), 863-879 ...