Antarctic Seabed Assemblages in an Ice-Shelf-Adjacent Polynya, Western Weddell Sea

• Main Authors: Frinault, AV, Christie, FDW, Fawcett, SE, Flynn, RF, Hutchinson, KA, Montres Strevens, CMJ, Taylor, ML, Woodall, LC, Barnes, DKA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: Antarctica; benthic assemblages; biodiversity; climate change; coastal polynya; continental shelf; ice shelf; Larsen Ice Shelf; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Weddell; Antarc*; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344761; https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.92184

One-third of the Antarctic continental shelf is covered by ice shelves, floating extensions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Marine life beneath and bordering ice shelves is rarely investigated, yet likely to be highly impacted by climate change. As ice shelves retreat, marine environments transition into new open-water spaces, with potential for primary production and consequent foodfall to the seafloor. How Antarctic seabed assemblages (benthos) develop in such emerging spaces is influenced by neighboring and oceanographically-connected communities; thus, closing knowledgegaps of benthic biodiversity near ice shelves underpins understanding of future ecosystem change. This study examined seafloor assemblages, and environmental differences, in a region that has experienced ice-shelf retreat, in a polynya adjacent to a marine margin at the forefront of climate change: the ice-shelf front. The study area, located in the Weddell Sea, is seldom accessible, and lies within a proposed international marine protected area. The study found a physically- and biologically-diverse seabed, complexity in potential environmental influences, and evidence of increasing megafaunal densities with increasing distance from an ice-shelf front. This research provides insights into seafloor habitats and inhabitants close to an evolving marine margin, and establishes ecological baselines from which biological responses to climate change can be evaluated to inform marine management. Flotilla Foundation and Marine Archaeology Consultants Switzerland; Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation; University of Cape Town Future Leaders Programme; the South African National Research Foundation, University of Cape Town Science Faculty Fellowship, Vice-Chancellor Doctoral Research scholarships and Postgraduate Merit award; the Nekton Foundation.