Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica
Historically low temperatures have severely limited skeleton-breaking predation on the Antarctic shelf, facilitating the evolution of a benthic fauna poorly defended against durophagy. Now, rapid warming of the Southern Ocean is restructuring Antarctic marine ecosystems as conditions become favorabl...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11141/2595 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2017 |
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ftfloridainsttec:oai:repository.lib.fit.edu:11141/2595 2023-10-09T21:47:01+02:00 Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica Smith, Kathryn E. Aronson, Richard B. Steffel, Brittan V. Amsler, Margaret O. Thatje, Sven Singh, Hanumant Pratap Anderson, Jeffrey S. Brothers, Cecilia J. Brown, Alastair Ellis, Daniel S. 2017-11 http://hdl.handle.net/11141/2595 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2017 en_US eng Smith, K. E., Aronson, R. B., Steffel, B. V., Amsler, M. O., Thatje, S., Singh, H., . . . McClintock, J. B. (2017). Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in antarctica: Ecosphere, 8(11) doi:10.1002/ecs2.2017 http://hdl.handle.net/11141/2595 doi:10.1002/ecs2.2017 This published article is made available in accordance with publisher’s policy. It may be subject to U.S. copyright law. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecs2.2017 Article 2017 ftfloridainsttec https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2017 2023-09-22T09:36:42Z Historically low temperatures have severely limited skeleton-breaking predation on the Antarctic shelf, facilitating the evolution of a benthic fauna poorly defended against durophagy. Now, rapid warming of the Southern Ocean is restructuring Antarctic marine ecosystems as conditions become favorable for range expansions. Populations of the lithodid crab Paralomis birsteini currently inhabit some areas of the continental slope off Antarctica. They could potentially expand along the slope and upward to the outer continental shelf, where temperatures are no longer prohibitively low. We identified two sites inhabited by different densities of lithodids in the slope environment along the western Antarctic Peninsula. Analysis of the gut contents of P. birsteini trapped on the slope revealed them to be opportunistic invertivores. The abundances of three commonly eaten, eurybathic taxa - ophiuroids, echinoids, and gastropods - were negatively associated with P. birsteini off Marguerite Bay, where lithodid densities averaged 4280 ind/km² at depths of 1100-1499 m (range 3440-5010 ind/km²), but not off Anvers Island, where lithodid densities were lower, averaging 2060 ind/km² at these depths (range 660-3270 ind/km²). Higher abundances of lithodids appear to exert a negative effect on invertebrate distribution on the slope. Lateral or vertical range expansions of P. birsteini at sufficient densities could substantially reduce populations of their benthic prey off Antarctica, potentially exacerbating the direct impacts of rising temperatures on the distribution and diversity of the contemporary shelf benthos. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island Southern Ocean The Scholarship Repository of Florida Institute of Technology Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) Anvers Island ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) Marguerite ENVELOPE(141.378,141.378,-66.787,-66.787) Marguerite Bay ENVELOPE(-68.000,-68.000,-68.500,-68.500) Southern Ocean The Antarctic Ecosphere 8 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Scholarship Repository of Florida Institute of Technology |
op_collection_id |
ftfloridainsttec |
language |
English |
description |
Historically low temperatures have severely limited skeleton-breaking predation on the Antarctic shelf, facilitating the evolution of a benthic fauna poorly defended against durophagy. Now, rapid warming of the Southern Ocean is restructuring Antarctic marine ecosystems as conditions become favorable for range expansions. Populations of the lithodid crab Paralomis birsteini currently inhabit some areas of the continental slope off Antarctica. They could potentially expand along the slope and upward to the outer continental shelf, where temperatures are no longer prohibitively low. We identified two sites inhabited by different densities of lithodids in the slope environment along the western Antarctic Peninsula. Analysis of the gut contents of P. birsteini trapped on the slope revealed them to be opportunistic invertivores. The abundances of three commonly eaten, eurybathic taxa - ophiuroids, echinoids, and gastropods - were negatively associated with P. birsteini off Marguerite Bay, where lithodid densities averaged 4280 ind/km² at depths of 1100-1499 m (range 3440-5010 ind/km²), but not off Anvers Island, where lithodid densities were lower, averaging 2060 ind/km² at these depths (range 660-3270 ind/km²). Higher abundances of lithodids appear to exert a negative effect on invertebrate distribution on the slope. Lateral or vertical range expansions of P. birsteini at sufficient densities could substantially reduce populations of their benthic prey off Antarctica, potentially exacerbating the direct impacts of rising temperatures on the distribution and diversity of the contemporary shelf benthos. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Kathryn E. Aronson, Richard B. Steffel, Brittan V. Amsler, Margaret O. Thatje, Sven Singh, Hanumant Pratap Anderson, Jeffrey S. Brothers, Cecilia J. Brown, Alastair Ellis, Daniel S. |
spellingShingle |
Smith, Kathryn E. Aronson, Richard B. Steffel, Brittan V. Amsler, Margaret O. Thatje, Sven Singh, Hanumant Pratap Anderson, Jeffrey S. Brothers, Cecilia J. Brown, Alastair Ellis, Daniel S. Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
author_facet |
Smith, Kathryn E. Aronson, Richard B. Steffel, Brittan V. Amsler, Margaret O. Thatje, Sven Singh, Hanumant Pratap Anderson, Jeffrey S. Brothers, Cecilia J. Brown, Alastair Ellis, Daniel S. |
author_sort |
Smith, Kathryn E. |
title |
Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
title_short |
Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
title_full |
Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica |
title_sort |
climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in antarctica |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11141/2595 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2017 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) ENVELOPE(141.378,141.378,-66.787,-66.787) ENVELOPE(-68.000,-68.000,-68.500,-68.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers Anvers Island Marguerite Marguerite Bay Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers Anvers Island Marguerite Marguerite Bay Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Smith, K. E., Aronson, R. B., Steffel, B. V., Amsler, M. O., Thatje, S., Singh, H., . . . McClintock, J. B. (2017). Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in antarctica: Ecosphere, 8(11) doi:10.1002/ecs2.2017 http://hdl.handle.net/11141/2595 doi:10.1002/ecs2.2017 |
op_rights |
This published article is made available in accordance with publisher’s policy. It may be subject to U.S. copyright law. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecs2.2017 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2017 |
container_title |
Ecosphere |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
11 |
_version_ |
1779309676615172096 |