Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard
The importance of landfast ice as a nursery and breeding ground for Arctic marine invertebrates was studied in Van Mijenfjorden (77°N, 15/16°W), southwestern Svalbard from March to May 2017. The collection of first-year ice cores with stations along a depth gradient allowed the investigation of both...
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UiT Norges arktiske universitet
2019
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/15941 2023-05-15T15:05:53+02:00 Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard Pitusi, Vanessa 2019-05-15 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/15941 eng eng UiT Norges arktiske universitet UiT The Arctic University of Norway https://hdl.handle.net/10037/15941 openAccess Copyright 2019 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 Master thesis Mastergradsoppgave 2019 ftunivtroemsoe 2021-06-25T17:56:44Z The importance of landfast ice as a nursery and breeding ground for Arctic marine invertebrates was studied in Van Mijenfjorden (77°N, 15/16°W), southwestern Svalbard from March to May 2017. The collection of first-year ice cores with stations along a depth gradient allowed the investigation of both temporal and spatial differences in sympagic meiofauna community composition and abundance. Furthermore, water column samples were retrieved to examine the strength of sympagic-pelagic coupling. Overall, 13 taxa were identified from the ice and 15 taxa from the water column with low abundances of dominant ice fauna in the water samples. Total sympagic metazoan abundance peaked in late April with over 25,000 ind m-2, due to the reproduction of ice-associated nematodes. Throughout spring the presence of sexually mature nematodes and eggs supported the notion that sea ice in Van Mijenfjorden, especially at the main station (vMF/Mn – 50 m water depth), served as a breeding and reproductive ground to ice nematodes. Comparatively, through tight sympagic-benthic coupling, in late April, higher abundances of juvenile polychaetes (7,661 to 8,900 ind m-2), in the lowermost 10 cm of the ice, were recorded at the innermost stations (2 - 14 m water depth), compared to deeper stations (> 50 m water depth) (0 to 865 ind m-2). They were utilizing the sea ice as a nursery ground and refuge from predators. Higher growth rates and faster development of polychaete juvenile morphological features indicative of maturation were observed in situ, as well as in a growth experiment that mimicked natural ice algae concentrations. Conclusively, ice nematodes and juvenile polychaetes inhabited the sea ice in Van Mijenfjorden to exploit the highly concentrated ice algae located in the lowermost three centimeters of the ice for reproduction and growth. Molecular tools revealed that all sympagic nematodes, apart from one individual from Wahlenbergfjorden (Nordauslandet, Svalbard), belong to the genus Halomonhystera and the family Monhysteridae, which are known from sea ice habitats. Juvenile polychaetes belonged to the family Spionidae, which is known to reside in sea ice in other parts of the Arctic. Master Thesis Arctic ice algae Sea ice Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden ENVELOPE(14.667,14.667,77.717,77.717) Wahlenbergfjorden ENVELOPE(20.593,20.593,79.721,79.721) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 Pitusi, Vanessa Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497 VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 |
description |
The importance of landfast ice as a nursery and breeding ground for Arctic marine invertebrates was studied in Van Mijenfjorden (77°N, 15/16°W), southwestern Svalbard from March to May 2017. The collection of first-year ice cores with stations along a depth gradient allowed the investigation of both temporal and spatial differences in sympagic meiofauna community composition and abundance. Furthermore, water column samples were retrieved to examine the strength of sympagic-pelagic coupling. Overall, 13 taxa were identified from the ice and 15 taxa from the water column with low abundances of dominant ice fauna in the water samples. Total sympagic metazoan abundance peaked in late April with over 25,000 ind m-2, due to the reproduction of ice-associated nematodes. Throughout spring the presence of sexually mature nematodes and eggs supported the notion that sea ice in Van Mijenfjorden, especially at the main station (vMF/Mn – 50 m water depth), served as a breeding and reproductive ground to ice nematodes. Comparatively, through tight sympagic-benthic coupling, in late April, higher abundances of juvenile polychaetes (7,661 to 8,900 ind m-2), in the lowermost 10 cm of the ice, were recorded at the innermost stations (2 - 14 m water depth), compared to deeper stations (> 50 m water depth) (0 to 865 ind m-2). They were utilizing the sea ice as a nursery ground and refuge from predators. Higher growth rates and faster development of polychaete juvenile morphological features indicative of maturation were observed in situ, as well as in a growth experiment that mimicked natural ice algae concentrations. Conclusively, ice nematodes and juvenile polychaetes inhabited the sea ice in Van Mijenfjorden to exploit the highly concentrated ice algae located in the lowermost three centimeters of the ice for reproduction and growth. Molecular tools revealed that all sympagic nematodes, apart from one individual from Wahlenbergfjorden (Nordauslandet, Svalbard), belong to the genus Halomonhystera and the family Monhysteridae, which are known from sea ice habitats. Juvenile polychaetes belonged to the family Spionidae, which is known to reside in sea ice in other parts of the Arctic. |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Pitusi, Vanessa |
author_facet |
Pitusi, Vanessa |
author_sort |
Pitusi, Vanessa |
title |
Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
title_short |
Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
title_full |
Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard |
title_sort |
seasonal abundance and activity of sympagic meiofauna in van mijenfjorden, svalbard |
publisher |
UiT Norges arktiske universitet |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/15941 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(14.667,14.667,77.717,77.717) ENVELOPE(20.593,20.593,79.721,79.721) |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden Wahlenbergfjorden |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden Wahlenbergfjorden |
genre |
Arctic ice algae Sea ice Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden |
genre_facet |
Arctic ice algae Sea ice Svalbard Van Mijenfjorden |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/15941 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2019 The Author(s) |
_version_ |
1766337562917470208 |