Seasonal Dietary Shifts of the Gammarid Amphipod Gondogeneia antarctica in a Rapidly Warming Fjord of the West Antarctic Peninsula

• Published in: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
• Main Authors: In-Young Ahn, Francyne Elias-Piera, Sun-Yong Ha, Sergio Rossi, Dong-U Kim
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: Gondogeneia antarctica; seasonal dietary shift; macroalgae; benthic diatoms; C and N stable isotopes; West Antarctic Peninsula; Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering; VM1-989; Oceanography; GC1-1581; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9121447; https://doaj.org/article/2399f87315324977909070e75695b036

The amphipod Gondogeneia antarctica is among the most abundant benthic organisms, and a key food web species along the rapidly warming West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). However, little is known about its trophic strategy for dealing with the extreme seasonality of Antarctic marine primary production. This study, using trophic markers, for the first time investigated seasonal dietary shifts of G. antarctica in a WAP fjord. We analyzed δ 13 C and δ 15 N in G. antarctica and its potential food sources. The isotopic signatures revealed a substantial contribution of red algae to the amphipod diet and also indicated a significant contribution of benthic diatoms. The isotope results were further supported by fatty acid (FA) analysis, which showed high similarities in FA composition (64% spring–summer, 58% fall–winter) between G. antarctica and the red algal species. G. antarctica δ 13 C showed a small shift seasonally (−18.9 to −21.4‰), suggesting that the main diets do not change much year-round. However, the relatively high δ 15 N values as for primary consumers indicated additional dietary sources such as animal parts. Interestingly, G. antarctica and its potential food sources were significantly enriched with δ 15 N during the fall–winter season, presumably through a degradation process, suggesting that G. antarctica consumes a substantial portion of its diets in the form of detritus. Overall, the results revealed that G. antarctica relies primarily on food sources derived from benthic primary producers throughout much of the year. Thus, G. antarctica is unlikely very affected by seasonal Antarctic primary production, and this strategy seems to have allowed them to adapt to shallow Antarctic nearshore waters.