Distribution patterns and abundance of Antarctic pristine benthic communities

• Main Author: Ambroso, Stefano
• Other Authors: Gili, Josep Maria, 1953-, Teixidó Ullod, Nuria, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya 2021
• Subjects: Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil i ambiental; 573; 59; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10803/671472

Knowledge of the abundance, distribution patterns, and population ecology of antarctic benthic biodiversity have increased considerably during the last decades. Antarctic marine benthic biodiversity has been sampled primarily in areas close to research stations and mainly at shallow depths since more than 100 years using a range of sampling methods, including benthic sleds or trawls and grabs each of which targets a particular community or habitat. Recent technological advances and increased availability of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), manned submersibles, and video equipped towed gears have significantly increased accessibility to mid and outer continental shelves, continental slopes, submarine canyons and seamounts, thus allowing the direct observation and quantitative study of megabenthic assemblages wthout any impact on the benthic community. Due to the high cost and logistics of these benthic sampling, particularly in Antarctica, studies are often limited to only one biological sampling method. Results of biodiversity studies are used for a range of purposes, including taxonomy, trophic ecology, growth rates, reproductive ecology, environmental impact assessments, and predictive modelling, all of which underpin appropriate marine resource management. However, the generality of marine biodiversity patterns identified among different sampling methods is unknown. This is one of the resons why more comparative studies are necessary to better understand the ecosystem patterns and processes in antactic regions in a context of climate change scenario. Major regions of the Antarctic shelf appear to be undergoing rapid climate change, such as warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in the past few decades. Such climate change will affect benthic ecosystems through changes in benthic-pelagic coupling. For these porpouse this tesis pretend to generally understand the distribution and the eocological paper that benthic organisms have on the benthic ecosystem of the antarctic continental shelf. This thesis includes for ...