Antarctic Seabed Assemblages in an Ice-Shelf-Adjacent Polynya, Western Weddell Sea ...

One-third of the Antarctic continental shelf is covered by ice shelves, floating extensions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Marine life beneath and bordering ice shelves is rarely investigated, yet likely to be highly impacted by climate change. As ice shelves retreat, marine environments transition int...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Frinault, AV, Christie, FDW, Fawcett, SE, Flynn, RF, Hutchinson, KA, Montres Strevens, CMJ, Taylor, ML, Woodall, LC, Barnes, DKA
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2022
Subjects:
Antarctica
benthic assemblages
biodiversity
climate change
coastal polynya
continental shelf
ice shelf
Larsen Ice Shelf
Southern Ocean
Weddell Sea
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Weddell
Antarc*
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.92184
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344761
Description
Summary:One-third of the Antarctic continental shelf is covered by ice shelves, floating extensions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Marine life beneath and bordering ice shelves is rarely investigated, yet likely to be highly impacted by climate change. As ice shelves retreat, marine environments transition into new open-water spaces, with potential for primary production and consequent foodfall to the seafloor. How Antarctic seabed assemblages (benthos) develop in such emerging spaces is influenced by neighboring and oceanographically-connected communities; thus, closing knowledgegaps of benthic biodiversity near ice shelves underpins understanding of future ecosystem change. This study examined seafloor assemblages, and environmental differences, in a region that has experienced ice-shelf retreat, in a polynya adjacent to a marine margin at the forefront of climate change: the ice-shelf front. The study area, located in the Weddell Sea, is seldom accessible, and lies within a proposed international marine protected ...

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