Benthic scavenger community composition and carrion removal in Arctic and Subarctic fjords

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Dunlop, Katherine Mary, Renaud, Paul Eric, Berge, Jørgen, Jones, Daniel O.B., Harbour, Rob P., Tandberg, Anne Helene S., Sweetman, Andrew K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Norway; atlantic cod; Gadus morhua; Northern Norway; Polar Biology; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2720771; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02773-5

In high latitude coastal regions, benthic scavenger communities are largely composed of invertebrates that play a key role in the cycling of organic matter. Factors including temperature and depth can structure Arctic and Subarctic fjord benthic communities, but the response of scavenging communities to these factors is poorly known. To address this, we compared scavenging fauna in eight fjords with different physical characteristics in Svalbard and northern Norway using time-lapse imagery of scavengers consuming Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) bait. Fjords influenced by relatively warm Atlantic waters, both in Norway and Svalbard, had high scavenger richness. However, Svalbard fjords with negative bottom temperatures had the lowest species richness and were dominated by lysianassoid amphipods and ophiuroids. In these cold Svalbard fjords, the mean carrion removal rates were almost 20 times higher than mean values noted elsewhere, except in the warm Norwegian fjord Kaldfjorden. Amphipods and ophiuroids quickly reduced the bait to bones (207.6–304.7 g removed per hour (g h−1); mean 290.6 ± 7.3 g h−1, n = 4) in cold Svalbard fjords. In the warmer Svalbard fjords, carrion removal rates were low (0–51.5 g h−1; mean 14.6 ± 9.0 g h−1, n = 5). Carrion removal rates in Kaldfjorden were higher than other Atlantic Water influenced fjords (132.1 and 372.5 g h−1, n = 2) owing to the scavenging activity of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). The results demonstrate potential ecosystem responses to warming in Arctic and Subarctic fjords, particularly effects related to range expansion of boreal species. publishedVersion Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.