Food web structure in a rapidly changing coastal environment: the West Antarctic Peninsula

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is one of the most rapidly changing regions in the world, in great part due to anthropogenic climate change. Steep environmental gradients in water temperature, sea ice cover and glacier melting influence are observed, but much is left to document about significanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Voisin, Anthony, Lepoint, Gilles, Danis, Bruno, Guillaumot, Charlène, Kristiansen, Alix, Pasotti, Francesca, Saucède, Thomas, Michel, Loïc
Other Authors: MARE - Centre Interfacultaire de Recherches en Océanologie - ULiège, FOCUS - Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch - ULiège
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
stable isotopes
antarctica
climate change
food web
benthos
sea ice
Life sciences
Zoology
Environmental sciences & ecology
Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Sciences du vivant
Zoologie
Sciences de l’environnement & écologie
Sciences aquatiques & océanologie
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Gerlache
Gerlache Strait
Southern Ocean
Antarc*
Sea ice
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/259808
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/259808/1/IsoEcol.presentationAV.pdf
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Summary:The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is one of the most rapidly changing regions in the world, in great part due to anthropogenic climate change. Steep environmental gradients in water temperature, sea ice cover and glacier melting influence are observed, but much is left to document about significance of those shifts for biological communities and ecosystem processes. Here, we aimed to study how environmental changes impact trophic interactions and ecological habits of benthic communities along the WAP. During the Belgica 121 expedition, dominant benthic mega- and macrofauna, as well as primary producers, were sampled in multiple stations featuring contrasted environmental conditions around the Gerlache Strait. Stable isotope ratios of δ 13C, δ15N and δ34S were measured and combined in an isotope niche analysis (SIBER). Our results suggest that changes in environmental features, notably ice disturbance, could cause alteration of food sources availability and fluxes to benthic organisms. Isotopic compositions of abundant species were more variable in stations with stronger ice disturbance. Besides baseline variability, this could be linked with use of alternative resources (niche expansion) in stations influenced by glacier melting. Those results provide a first step towards understanding links between environmental change and ecological responses of benthic consumers along the WAP. RECTO: Refugia and Ecosystem Tolerance in the Southern Ocean (BR/154/A1/RECTO)

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