Protists in the marine ice of the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Roberts, D, Craven, M, Cai, M, Allison, I, Nash, G
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer-Verlag 2007
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; Glaciology; Amery; Amery Ice Shelf; Austral; East Antarctica; Prydz Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Polar Biology; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0169-7; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/45400

Samples of marine ice were collected from the Amery Ice Shelf, a large embayed ice shelf in East Antarctica, during the Austral summer of 2001-2002. The samples came from a site 90 km from the iceberg calving front of the shelf, where the ice is 479 m thick and the lower 203 m is composed of accreted marine ice. Protists identified within the marine ice layer of the Amery Ice Shelf include diatoms, chrysophytes, silicoflagellates and dinoflagellates. The numerical dominance of sea ice indicator diatoms such as Fragilariopsis curta, Fragilariopsis cylindrus, Fragilariopsis rhombica and Chaetoceros resting spores, and the presence of cold open water diatoms such as Fragilariopsis kerguelensis and species of Thalassiosira suggest the protist composition of the Amery marine ice is attributable to seeding from melting pack and/or fast ice protist communities in the highly productive waters of Prydz Bay to the north. 2006 Springer-Verlag.