Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula
Climate-related disturbance regimes are changing rapidly with profound consequences for ecosystems. Disturbance is often perceived as detrimental to biodiversity; however, the literature is divided on how they influence each other. Disturbance events in nature are diverse, occurring across numerous...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530085 2023-05-15T13:41:45+02:00 Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula Robinson, B.J.O. Barnes, D.K.A. Grange, L.J. Morley, S.A. 2021-08-18 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/1/s41598-021-96269-9.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-96269-9 en eng Nature Research https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/1/s41598-021-96269-9.pdf Robinson, B.J.O. orcid:0000-0002-7450-686X Barnes, D.K.A. orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Grange, L.J.; Morley, S.A. orcid:0000-0002-7761-660X . 2021 Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Scientific Reports, 11, 16712. 8, pp. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9 <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9 2023-02-04T19:52:01Z Climate-related disturbance regimes are changing rapidly with profound consequences for ecosystems. Disturbance is often perceived as detrimental to biodiversity; however, the literature is divided on how they influence each other. Disturbance events in nature are diverse, occurring across numerous interacting trophic levels and multiple spatial and temporal scales, leading to divergence between empirical and theoretical studies. The shallow Antarctic seafloor has one of the largest disturbance gradients on earth, due to iceberg scouring. Scour rates are changing rapidly along the Western Antarctic Peninsula because of climate change and with further changes predicted, the Antarctic benthos will likely undergo dramatic shifts in diversity. We investigated benthic macro and megafaunal richness across 10–100 m depth range, much of which, 40–100 m, has rarely been sampled. Macro and megafauna species richness peaked at 50–60 m depth, a depth dominated by a diverse range of sessile suspension feeders, with an intermediate level of iceberg disturbance. Our results show that a broad range of disturbance values are required to detect the predicted peak in biodiversity that is consistent with the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, suggesting ice scour is key to maintaining high biodiversity in Antarctica’s shallows. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Scientific Reports 11 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Climate-related disturbance regimes are changing rapidly with profound consequences for ecosystems. Disturbance is often perceived as detrimental to biodiversity; however, the literature is divided on how they influence each other. Disturbance events in nature are diverse, occurring across numerous interacting trophic levels and multiple spatial and temporal scales, leading to divergence between empirical and theoretical studies. The shallow Antarctic seafloor has one of the largest disturbance gradients on earth, due to iceberg scouring. Scour rates are changing rapidly along the Western Antarctic Peninsula because of climate change and with further changes predicted, the Antarctic benthos will likely undergo dramatic shifts in diversity. We investigated benthic macro and megafaunal richness across 10–100 m depth range, much of which, 40–100 m, has rarely been sampled. Macro and megafauna species richness peaked at 50–60 m depth, a depth dominated by a diverse range of sessile suspension feeders, with an intermediate level of iceberg disturbance. Our results show that a broad range of disturbance values are required to detect the predicted peak in biodiversity that is consistent with the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, suggesting ice scour is key to maintaining high biodiversity in Antarctica’s shallows. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robinson, B.J.O. Barnes, D.K.A. Grange, L.J. Morley, S.A. |
spellingShingle |
Robinson, B.J.O. Barnes, D.K.A. Grange, L.J. Morley, S.A. Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
author_facet |
Robinson, B.J.O. Barnes, D.K.A. Grange, L.J. Morley, S.A. |
author_sort |
Robinson, B.J.O. |
title |
Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
title_short |
Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full |
Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
title_fullStr |
Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full_unstemmed |
Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
title_sort |
intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the western antarctic peninsula |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/1/s41598-021-96269-9.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-96269-9 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Iceberg* |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530085/1/s41598-021-96269-9.pdf Robinson, B.J.O. orcid:0000-0002-7450-686X Barnes, D.K.A. orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Grange, L.J.; Morley, S.A. orcid:0000-0002-7761-660X . 2021 Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Scientific Reports, 11, 16712. 8, pp. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9 <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96269-9 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766157384974073856 |