Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica
Sea-ice is a key physical driver of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Understanding ecological effects of sea-ice is particularly important given current and future climate change, but a major obstacle is the impracticality of manipulating sea-ice at a relevant scale. However, large-scale anomalous event...
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2015
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_35445 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x |
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_35445 2024-05-12T07:56:39+00:00 Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica Clark, GF Marzinelli, EM Fogwill, CJ Turney, CSM Johnston, EL 2015-08-25 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_35445 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x unknown Springer Verlag http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130104156 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL100100195 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP1096900 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_35445 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x metadata only access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_14cb CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ urn:ISSN:0722-4060 urn:ISSN:1432-2056 Polar Biology, 38, 8, 1213-1222 13 Climate Action 14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2015 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x 2024-04-17T15:55:34Z Sea-ice is a key physical driver of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Understanding ecological effects of sea-ice is particularly important given current and future climate change, but a major obstacle is the impracticality of manipulating sea-ice at a relevant scale. However, large-scale anomalous events, such as those occurring in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica, provide opportunities for natural experiments. Historically, katabatic winds have kept Commonwealth Bay ice-free for most of each year, but since 2010, a massive grounded iceberg has resulted in year-round sea-ice cover. We surveyed benthic communities in Commonwealth Bay approximately 3 years after continuous sea-ice cover began and found algal bed communities in severe decline. The majority (~75 %) of large macroalgae were decomposing, and the remainder were discoloured or bleached, while approximately 40 % of encrusting coralline algae were bleached. Accompanying this, the presence of invertebrates such as ophiuroids and polychaetes suggests that communities are in the early stages of transitioning to an invertebrate-dominated state. With a known start date, monitoring benthic communities in Commonwealth Bay will allow quantification of rates of benthic regime shifts in response to sea-ice cover, and improve understanding of the vulnerability of polar ecosystems to climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Iceberg* Polar Biology Sea ice UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Antarctic East Antarctica Commonwealth Bay ENVELOPE(142.500,142.500,-67.000,-67.000) Polar Biology 38 8 1213 1222 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
unknown |
topic |
13 Climate Action 14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
13 Climate Action 14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences Clark, GF Marzinelli, EM Fogwill, CJ Turney, CSM Johnston, EL Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
13 Climate Action 14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences |
description |
Sea-ice is a key physical driver of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Understanding ecological effects of sea-ice is particularly important given current and future climate change, but a major obstacle is the impracticality of manipulating sea-ice at a relevant scale. However, large-scale anomalous events, such as those occurring in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica, provide opportunities for natural experiments. Historically, katabatic winds have kept Commonwealth Bay ice-free for most of each year, but since 2010, a massive grounded iceberg has resulted in year-round sea-ice cover. We surveyed benthic communities in Commonwealth Bay approximately 3 years after continuous sea-ice cover began and found algal bed communities in severe decline. The majority (~75 %) of large macroalgae were decomposing, and the remainder were discoloured or bleached, while approximately 40 % of encrusting coralline algae were bleached. Accompanying this, the presence of invertebrates such as ophiuroids and polychaetes suggests that communities are in the early stages of transitioning to an invertebrate-dominated state. With a known start date, monitoring benthic communities in Commonwealth Bay will allow quantification of rates of benthic regime shifts in response to sea-ice cover, and improve understanding of the vulnerability of polar ecosystems to climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clark, GF Marzinelli, EM Fogwill, CJ Turney, CSM Johnston, EL |
author_facet |
Clark, GF Marzinelli, EM Fogwill, CJ Turney, CSM Johnston, EL |
author_sort |
Clark, GF |
title |
Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
effects of sea-ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in commonwealth bay, east antarctica |
publisher |
Springer Verlag |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_35445 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(142.500,142.500,-67.000,-67.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Commonwealth Bay |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Commonwealth Bay |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Iceberg* Polar Biology Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Iceberg* Polar Biology Sea ice |
op_source |
urn:ISSN:0722-4060 urn:ISSN:1432-2056 Polar Biology, 38, 8, 1213-1222 |
op_relation |
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130104156 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL100100195 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP1096900 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_35445 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x |
op_rights |
metadata only access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_14cb CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1213 |
op_container_end_page |
1222 |
_version_ |
1798836826687930368 |