Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica
Marine biogenic skeletal production is the prevalent source of Ca-carbonate in today’s Antarctic seas. Most information, however, derives from the post-mortem legacy of calcifying organisms. Prior imagery and evaluation of Antarctic habitats hosting calcifying benthic organisms are poorly present in...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8983d9b321b8473c8abd7fc468dd0120 2023-05-15T13:51:08+02:00 Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica Giorgio Castellan Lorenzo Angeletti Simonepietro Canese Claudio Mazzoli Paolo Montagna Stefano Schiaparelli Marco Taviani 2021-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080833 https://doaj.org/article/8983d9b321b8473c8abd7fc468dd0120 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/8/833 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min11080833 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/8983d9b321b8473c8abd7fc468dd0120 Minerals, Vol 11, Iss 833, p 833 (2021) Antarctica Ross Sea region MPA remotely operated vehicles carbonate factories benthos carbonate polymorphs Mineralogy QE351-399.2 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080833 2022-12-31T07:42:52Z Marine biogenic skeletal production is the prevalent source of Ca-carbonate in today’s Antarctic seas. Most information, however, derives from the post-mortem legacy of calcifying organisms. Prior imagery and evaluation of Antarctic habitats hosting calcifying benthic organisms are poorly present in the literature, therefore, a Remotely Operated Vehicle survey was carried out in the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area during the 2013–2014 austral summer. Two video surveys of the seafloor were conducted along transects between 30 and 120 m (Adelie Cove) and 230 and 260 m (Terra Nova Bay “Canyon”), respectively. We quantified the relative abundance of calcifiers vs. non-calcifiers in the macro- and mega-epibenthos. Furthermore, we considered the typology of the carbonate polymorphs represented by the skeletonized organisms. The combined evidence from the two sites reveals the widespread existence of carbonate-mixed factories in the area, with an overwhelming abundance of both low-Mg and (especially) high-Mg calcite calcifiers. Echinoids, serpulids, bryozoans, pectinid bivalves and octocorals prove to be the most abundant animal producers in terms of abundance. The shallower Adelie Cove site also showed evidence of seabed coverage by coralline algae. Our results will help in refining paleoenvironmental analyses since many of the megabenthic calcifiers occur in the Quaternary record of Antarctica. We set a baseline to monitor the future response of these polar biota in a rapidly changing ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Austral Ross Sea Terra Nova Bay Minerals 11 8 833 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctica Ross Sea region MPA remotely operated vehicles carbonate factories benthos carbonate polymorphs Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica Ross Sea region MPA remotely operated vehicles carbonate factories benthos carbonate polymorphs Mineralogy QE351-399.2 Giorgio Castellan Lorenzo Angeletti Simonepietro Canese Claudio Mazzoli Paolo Montagna Stefano Schiaparelli Marco Taviani Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Antarctica Ross Sea region MPA remotely operated vehicles carbonate factories benthos carbonate polymorphs Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
description |
Marine biogenic skeletal production is the prevalent source of Ca-carbonate in today’s Antarctic seas. Most information, however, derives from the post-mortem legacy of calcifying organisms. Prior imagery and evaluation of Antarctic habitats hosting calcifying benthic organisms are poorly present in the literature, therefore, a Remotely Operated Vehicle survey was carried out in the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area during the 2013–2014 austral summer. Two video surveys of the seafloor were conducted along transects between 30 and 120 m (Adelie Cove) and 230 and 260 m (Terra Nova Bay “Canyon”), respectively. We quantified the relative abundance of calcifiers vs. non-calcifiers in the macro- and mega-epibenthos. Furthermore, we considered the typology of the carbonate polymorphs represented by the skeletonized organisms. The combined evidence from the two sites reveals the widespread existence of carbonate-mixed factories in the area, with an overwhelming abundance of both low-Mg and (especially) high-Mg calcite calcifiers. Echinoids, serpulids, bryozoans, pectinid bivalves and octocorals prove to be the most abundant animal producers in terms of abundance. The shallower Adelie Cove site also showed evidence of seabed coverage by coralline algae. Our results will help in refining paleoenvironmental analyses since many of the megabenthic calcifiers occur in the Quaternary record of Antarctica. We set a baseline to monitor the future response of these polar biota in a rapidly changing ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Giorgio Castellan Lorenzo Angeletti Simonepietro Canese Claudio Mazzoli Paolo Montagna Stefano Schiaparelli Marco Taviani |
author_facet |
Giorgio Castellan Lorenzo Angeletti Simonepietro Canese Claudio Mazzoli Paolo Montagna Stefano Schiaparelli Marco Taviani |
author_sort |
Giorgio Castellan |
title |
Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
title_short |
Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
title_full |
Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica |
title_sort |
visual imaging of benthic carbonate-mixed factories in the ross sea region marine protected area, antarctica |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080833 https://doaj.org/article/8983d9b321b8473c8abd7fc468dd0120 |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Ross Sea Terra Nova Bay |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Ross Sea Terra Nova Bay |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea |
op_source |
Minerals, Vol 11, Iss 833, p 833 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/8/833 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min11080833 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/8983d9b321b8473c8abd7fc468dd0120 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080833 |
container_title |
Minerals |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
833 |
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1766254733981384704 |