scholarly journals Correction to ‘Inter-decadal variability of phytoplankton biomass along the coastal West Antarctic Peninsula’

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2130) ◽  
pp. 20180170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyewon Kim ◽  
Hugh W. Ducklow ◽  
Doris Abele ◽  
Eduardo M. Ruiz Barlett ◽  
Anita G. J. Buma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Phytoplankton Biomass ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula

scholarly journals Variability in summer surface residence time within a West Antarctic Peninsula biological hotspot

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2122) ◽  
pp. 20170165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh T. Kohut ◽  
Peter Winsor ◽  
Hank Statscewich ◽  
Matthew J. Oliver ◽  
Erick Fredj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Residence Time ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Phytoplankton Biomass ◽  
Antarctic Krill ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Phytoplankton Productivity ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula

Palmer Deep canyon along the central West Antarctic Peninsula is known to have higher phytoplankton biomass than the surrounding non-canyon regions, but the circulation mechanisms that transport and locally concentrate phytoplankton and Antarctic krill, potentially increasing prey availability to upper-trophic-level predators such as penguins and cetaceans, are currently unknown. We deployed a three-site high-frequency radar network that provided hourly surface circulation maps over the Palmer Deep hotspot. A series of particle release experiments were used to estimate surface residence time and connectivity across the canyon. The majority of residence times fell between 1.0 and 3.5 days, with a mean of 2 days and a maximum of 5 days. We found a highly significant negative relationship between wind speed and residence time. Our residence time analysis indicates that the elevated phytoplankton biomass over the central canyon is transported into and out of the hotspot on time scales much shorter than the observed phytoplankton growth rate, suggesting that the canyon may not act as an incubator of phytoplankton productivity as previously suggested. It may instead serve more as a conveyor belt of phytoplankton biomass produced elsewhere, continually replenishing the phytoplankton biomass for the local Antarctic krill community, which in turn supports numerous top predators. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress in a region of rapid change’.

scholarly journals Inter-decadal variability of phytoplankton biomass along the coastal West Antarctic Peninsula

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2122) ◽  
pp. 20170174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyewon Kim ◽  
Hugh W. Ducklow ◽  
Doris Abele ◽  
Eduardo M. Ruiz Barlett ◽  
Anita G. J. Buma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Phytoplankton Biomass ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Phytoplankton Dynamics ◽  
The West ◽  
Water Column Stability ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Palmer Station ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a climatically sensitive region where periods of strong warming have caused significant changes in the marine ecosystem and food-web processes. Tight coupling between phytoplankton and higher trophic levels implies that the coastal WAP is a bottom-up controlled system, where changes in phytoplankton dynamics may largely impact other food-web components. Here, we analysed the inter-decadal time series of year-round chlorophyll- a (Chl) collected from three stations along the coastal WAP: Carlini Station at Potter Cove (PC) on King George Island, Palmer Station on Anvers Island and Rothera Station on Adelaide Island. There were trends towards increased phytoplankton biomass at Carlini Station (PC) and Palmer Station, while phytoplankton biomass declined significantly at Rothera Station over the studied period. The impacts of two relevant climate modes to the WAP, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode, on winter and spring phytoplankton biomass appear to be different among the three sampling stations, suggesting an important role of local-scale forcing than large-scale forcing on phytoplankton dynamics at each station. The inter-annual variability of seasonal bloom progression derived from considering all three stations together captured ecologically meaningful, seasonally co-occurring bloom patterns which were primarily constrained by water-column stability strength. Our findings highlight a coupled link between phytoplankton and physical and climate dynamics along the coastal WAP, which may improve our understanding of overall WAP food-web responses to climate change and variability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress in a region of rapid change’.

scholarly journals The seasonal cycle of ocean-atmosphere CO2flux in Ryder Bay, west Antarctic Peninsula

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 2934-2942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver J. Legge ◽  
Dorothee C. E. Bakker ◽  
Martin T. Johnson ◽  
Michael P. Meredith ◽  
Hugh J. Venables ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula

The role of fish in the Antarctic marine food web: differences between inshore and offshore waters in the southern Scotia Arc and west Antarctic Peninsula

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESTEBAN BARRERA-ORO
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Demersal Fish ◽  
Pelagic Fish ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Scotia Arc ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
The Antarctic

The role of fish in the Antarctic food web in inshore and offshore waters is analysed, taking as an example the coastal marine communities of the southern Scotia Arc (South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands) and the west Antarctic Peninsula. Inshore, the ecological role of demersal fish is more important than that of krill. There, demersal fish are major consumers of benthos and also feed on zooplankton (mainly krill in summer). They are links between lower and upper levels of the food web and are common prey of other fish, birds and seals. Offshore, demersal fish depend less on benthos and feed more on zooplankton (mainly krill) and nekton, and are less accessible as prey of birds and seals. There, pelagic fish (especially lantern fish) are more abundant than inshore and play an important role in the energy flow from macrozooplankton to higher trophic levels (seabirds and seals). Through the higher fish predators, energy is transferred to land in the form of fish remains, pellets (birds), regurgitation and faeces (birds and seals). However, in the general context of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, krill (Euphausia superba) plays the central role in the food web because it is the main food source in terms of biomass for most of the high level predators from demersal fish up to whales. This has no obvious equivalent in other marine ecosystems. In Antarctic offshore coastal and oceanic waters the greatest proportion of energy from the ecosystem is transferred to land directly through krill consumers, such as flying birds, penguins, and seals. Beside krill, the populations of fish in the Antarctic Ocean are the second most important element for higher predators, in particular the energy-rich pelagic Myctophidae in open waters and the pelagic Antarctic silver fish (Pleuragramma antarcticum) in the high Antarctic zone. Although the occurrence of these pelagic fish inshore has been poorly documented, their abundance in neritic waters could be higher than previously believed.

scholarly journals Changes in the upper ocean mixed layer and phytoplankton productivity along the West Antarctic Peninsula

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2122) ◽  
pp. 20170173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Schofield ◽  
Michael Brown ◽  
Josh Kohut ◽  
Schuyler Nardelli ◽  
Grace Saba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
The West ◽  
Phytoplankton Productivity ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has experienced significant change over the last 50 years. Using a 24 year spatial time series collected by the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research programme, we assessed long-term patterns in the sea ice, upper mixed layer depth (MLD) and phytoplankton productivity. The number of sea ice days steadily declined from the 1980s until a recent reversal that began in 2008. Results show regional differences between the northern and southern regions sampled during regional ship surveys conducted each austral summer. In the southern WAP, upper ocean MLD has shallowed by a factor of 2. Associated with the shallower mixed layer is enhanced phytoplankton carbon fixation. In the north, significant interannual variability resulted in the mixed layer showing no trended change over time and there was no significant increase in the phytoplankton productivity. Associated with the recent increases in sea ice there has been an increase in the photosynthetic efficiency (chlorophyll a -normalized carbon fixation) in the northern and southern regions of the WAP. We hypothesize the increase in sea ice results in increased micronutrient delivery to the continental shelf which in turn leads to enhanced photosynthetic performance. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress in a region of rapid change’.

Enhanced oceanic CO2 uptake along the rapidly changing West Antarctic Peninsula

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 678-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Brown ◽  
David R. Munro ◽  
Colette J. Feehan ◽  
Colm Sweeney ◽  
Hugh W. Ducklow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Co2 Uptake ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
West Antarctic Peninsula
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