Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter
How the abundant pelagic life of the Southern Ocean survives winter darkness, when the sea is covered by pack ice and phytoplankton production is nearly zero, is poorly understood. Ice-associated (“sympagic”) microalgae could serve as a high-quality carbon source during winter, but their significanc...
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2018
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Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/dependency-of-antarctic-zooplankton-species-on-ice-algae-produced https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14392 |
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/541079 2024-01-14T10:01:38+01:00 Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter Kohlbach, Doreen Graeve, Martin Lange, Benjamin A. David, Carmen Schaafsma, Fokje L. van Franeker, Jan Andries Vortkamp, Martina Brandt, Angelika Flores, Hauke 2018 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/dependency-of-antarctic-zooplankton-species-on-ice-algae-produced https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14392 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/459537 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/dependency-of-antarctic-zooplankton-species-on-ice-algae-produced doi:10.1111/gcb.14392 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research Global Change Biology 24 (2018) 10 ISSN: 1354-1013 Antarctic food web Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis carbon sources climate change marker fatty acids sea ice algae under-ice community info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2018 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14392 2023-12-20T23:16:37Z How the abundant pelagic life of the Southern Ocean survives winter darkness, when the sea is covered by pack ice and phytoplankton production is nearly zero, is poorly understood. Ice-associated (“sympagic”) microalgae could serve as a high-quality carbon source during winter, but their significance in the food web is so far unquantified. To better understand the importance of ice algae-produced carbon for the overwintering of Antarctic organisms, we investigated fatty acid (FA) and stable isotope compositions of 10 zooplankton species, and their potential sympagic and pelagic carbon sources. FA-specific carbon stable isotope compositions were used in stable isotope mixing models to quantify the contribution of ice algae-produced carbon (αIce) to the body carbon of each species. Mean αIce estimates ranged from 4% to 67%, with large variations between species and depending on the FA used for the modelling. Integrating the αIce estimates from all models, the sympagic amphipod Eusirus laticarpus was the most dependent on ice algal carbon (αIce: 54%–67%), and the salp Salpa thompsoni showed the least dependency on ice algal carbon (αIce: 8%–40%). Differences in αIceestimates between FAs associated with short-term vs. long-term lipid pools suggested an increasing importance of ice algal carbon for many species as the winter season progressed. In the abundant winter-active copepod Calanus propinquus, mean αIce reached more than 50% in late winter. The trophic carbon flux from ice algae into this copepod was between 3 and 5 mg C m−2 day−1. This indicates that copepods and other ice-dependent zooplankton species transfer significant amounts of carbon from ice algae into the pelagic system, where it fuels the food web, the biological carbon pump and elemental cycling. Understanding the role of ice algae-produced carbon in these processes will be the key to predictions of the impact of future sea ice decline on Antarctic ecosystem functioning. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice Southern Ocean Copepods Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Antarctic Southern Ocean Global Change Biology 24 10 4667 4681 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctic food web Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis carbon sources climate change marker fatty acids sea ice algae under-ice community |
spellingShingle |
Antarctic food web Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis carbon sources climate change marker fatty acids sea ice algae under-ice community Kohlbach, Doreen Graeve, Martin Lange, Benjamin A. David, Carmen Schaafsma, Fokje L. van Franeker, Jan Andries Vortkamp, Martina Brandt, Angelika Flores, Hauke Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
topic_facet |
Antarctic food web Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis carbon sources climate change marker fatty acids sea ice algae under-ice community |
description |
How the abundant pelagic life of the Southern Ocean survives winter darkness, when the sea is covered by pack ice and phytoplankton production is nearly zero, is poorly understood. Ice-associated (“sympagic”) microalgae could serve as a high-quality carbon source during winter, but their significance in the food web is so far unquantified. To better understand the importance of ice algae-produced carbon for the overwintering of Antarctic organisms, we investigated fatty acid (FA) and stable isotope compositions of 10 zooplankton species, and their potential sympagic and pelagic carbon sources. FA-specific carbon stable isotope compositions were used in stable isotope mixing models to quantify the contribution of ice algae-produced carbon (αIce) to the body carbon of each species. Mean αIce estimates ranged from 4% to 67%, with large variations between species and depending on the FA used for the modelling. Integrating the αIce estimates from all models, the sympagic amphipod Eusirus laticarpus was the most dependent on ice algal carbon (αIce: 54%–67%), and the salp Salpa thompsoni showed the least dependency on ice algal carbon (αIce: 8%–40%). Differences in αIceestimates between FAs associated with short-term vs. long-term lipid pools suggested an increasing importance of ice algal carbon for many species as the winter season progressed. In the abundant winter-active copepod Calanus propinquus, mean αIce reached more than 50% in late winter. The trophic carbon flux from ice algae into this copepod was between 3 and 5 mg C m−2 day−1. This indicates that copepods and other ice-dependent zooplankton species transfer significant amounts of carbon from ice algae into the pelagic system, where it fuels the food web, the biological carbon pump and elemental cycling. Understanding the role of ice algae-produced carbon in these processes will be the key to predictions of the impact of future sea ice decline on Antarctic ecosystem functioning. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kohlbach, Doreen Graeve, Martin Lange, Benjamin A. David, Carmen Schaafsma, Fokje L. van Franeker, Jan Andries Vortkamp, Martina Brandt, Angelika Flores, Hauke |
author_facet |
Kohlbach, Doreen Graeve, Martin Lange, Benjamin A. David, Carmen Schaafsma, Fokje L. van Franeker, Jan Andries Vortkamp, Martina Brandt, Angelika Flores, Hauke |
author_sort |
Kohlbach, Doreen |
title |
Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
title_short |
Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
title_full |
Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
title_fullStr |
Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dependency of Antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
title_sort |
dependency of antarctic zooplankton species on ice algae-produced carbon suggests a sea ice-driven pelagic ecosystem during winter |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/dependency-of-antarctic-zooplankton-species-on-ice-algae-produced https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14392 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice Southern Ocean Copepods |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice Southern Ocean Copepods |
op_source |
Global Change Biology 24 (2018) 10 ISSN: 1354-1013 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/459537 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/dependency-of-antarctic-zooplankton-species-on-ice-algae-produced doi:10.1111/gcb.14392 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14392 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
4667 |
op_container_end_page |
4681 |
_version_ |
1788067392426868736 |