Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring
The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of recent rapid regional warming and ice loss1. The WAP sea surface freezes each winter to form a ‘fast-ice’ skin that can reduce iceberg drift and collisions between their keels and the sea bed, in what is termed scouring. Scouring disturbance is thus...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:15276 2023-05-15T13:45:11+02:00 Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring Barnes, David K.A. Souster, Terri 2011 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/15276/ http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v1/n7/full/nclimate1232.html unknown Nature Publishing Group Barnes, David K.A. orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Souster, Terri orcid:0000-0002-7585-1999 . 2011 Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring. Nature Climate Change, 1 (7). 365-368. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232> Glaciology Biology and Microbiology Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2011 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232 2023-02-04T19:29:44Z The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of recent rapid regional warming and ice loss1. The WAP sea surface freezes each winter to form a ‘fast-ice’ skin that can reduce iceberg drift and collisions between their keels and the sea bed, in what is termed scouring. Scouring disturbance is thus inversely correlated with fast-ice duration2. We examined long-term records of fast ice, ice scour and mortality of benthos around Rothera research station (WAP) to determine whether there is a biological response from the sea bed coincident with fast-ice changes. Here we show that the duration of fast ice at Rothera has significantly decreased by >5 d yr−1 over 25 years and that this is strongly correlated with increased ice scour and mortality of benthos in the shallows. The number of experimental markers at Rothera crushed by iceberg scouring increased over the past decade. We found that survival of one of the most common shallow species3, the bryozoan Fenestrulina rugula, is linked to ice-scour frequency and has markedly decreased over the past 12 years. The chance of colonies reaching two years old, the age at which they typically begin to sexually reproduce, has halved since 1997. These findings suggest that increased scouring of the sea bed has led to higher benthic mortality, with implications for the region’s biodiversity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Rothera ENVELOPE(-68.130,-68.130,-67.568,-67.568) Rothera Research Station ENVELOPE(-68.129,-68.129,-67.566,-67.566) Nature Climate Change 1 7 365 368 |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
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unknown |
topic |
Glaciology Biology and Microbiology |
spellingShingle |
Glaciology Biology and Microbiology Barnes, David K.A. Souster, Terri Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
topic_facet |
Glaciology Biology and Microbiology |
description |
The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of recent rapid regional warming and ice loss1. The WAP sea surface freezes each winter to form a ‘fast-ice’ skin that can reduce iceberg drift and collisions between their keels and the sea bed, in what is termed scouring. Scouring disturbance is thus inversely correlated with fast-ice duration2. We examined long-term records of fast ice, ice scour and mortality of benthos around Rothera research station (WAP) to determine whether there is a biological response from the sea bed coincident with fast-ice changes. Here we show that the duration of fast ice at Rothera has significantly decreased by >5 d yr−1 over 25 years and that this is strongly correlated with increased ice scour and mortality of benthos in the shallows. The number of experimental markers at Rothera crushed by iceberg scouring increased over the past decade. We found that survival of one of the most common shallow species3, the bryozoan Fenestrulina rugula, is linked to ice-scour frequency and has markedly decreased over the past 12 years. The chance of colonies reaching two years old, the age at which they typically begin to sexually reproduce, has halved since 1997. These findings suggest that increased scouring of the sea bed has led to higher benthic mortality, with implications for the region’s biodiversity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barnes, David K.A. Souster, Terri |
author_facet |
Barnes, David K.A. Souster, Terri |
author_sort |
Barnes, David K.A. |
title |
Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
title_short |
Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
title_full |
Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
title_fullStr |
Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
title_sort |
reduced survival of antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/15276/ http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v1/n7/full/nclimate1232.html |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-68.130,-68.130,-67.568,-67.568) ENVELOPE(-68.129,-68.129,-67.566,-67.566) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Rothera Rothera Research Station |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Rothera Rothera Research Station |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* |
op_relation |
Barnes, David K.A. orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Souster, Terri orcid:0000-0002-7585-1999 . 2011 Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring. Nature Climate Change, 1 (7). 365-368. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1232 |
container_title |
Nature Climate Change |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
365 |
op_container_end_page |
368 |
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1766215845284937728 |