Body size and age of specimen of the Antarctic clam Laternula elliptica collected in Potter Cove (KGI)

• Main Authors: Philipp, Eva E R, Husmann, Gunnar, Abele, Doris
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2011
• Subjects: BIO; Biology; Carlini/Jubany Station; IMCOAST/IMCONet; Impact of climate induced glacier melt on marine coastal systems; Antarctica; Jubany_Dallmann; Laternula elliptica; age; height of valve; length of valve; LATITUDE; LONGITUDE; PotterCove_Laternula; Potter Cove; King George Island; Antarctic Peninsula; Sample ID; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; Iceberg*
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.776567; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.776567

Recent rapid changes of air temperature on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula results in increased sediment discharge and ice scouring frequencies in coastal regions. These changes are bound to especially affect slow growing, sessile filter feeders such as the Antarctic bivalve, Laternula elliptica, a long-lived and abundant key species with circumpolar distribution. We investigated the effect of sedimentation and ice scouring on small/young and large/old individuals at two closely located stations, distinctly influenced by both types of disturbance. Small individuals dealt better with disturbance in terms of their respiratory response to sediment exposure, reburrowing ability, and survival after injury, compared to larger animals. At the more disturbed station L. elliptica population density was lower, but larger animals reburrowed faster after iceberg disturbance and reduced their metabolic rate under strong sediment coverage, compared to larger animals of the less disturbed station, indicating that an adaptation or learning response to both types of disturbance may be possible. Smaller individuals were not influenced. Laternula elliptica seems capable of coping with the rapidly changing environmental conditions. Due to a decrease in population density and mean population lifespan, L. elliptica could however lose its key role in the bentho-pelagic carbon flux in areas of high sediment deposition.