0000000000739780
AUTHOR
Angelika Brandt
Possible effects of global environmental changes on Antarctic benthos: a synthesis across five major taxa
Because of the unique conditions that exist around the Antarctic continent, Southern Ocean (SO) ecosystems are very susceptible to the growing impact of global climate change and other anthropogenic influences. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand how SO marine life will cope with expected future changes in the environment. Studies of Antarctic organisms have shown that individual species and higher taxa display different degrees of sensitivity to environmental shifts, making it difficult to predict overall community or ecosystem responses. This emphasizes the need for an improved understanding of the Antarctic benthic ecosystem response to global climate change using a multi…
The macro- and megabenthic fauna on the continental shelf of the eastern Amundsen Sea, Antarctica.
11 pages; International audience; In 2008 the BIOPEARL II expedition on board of RRS James Clark Ross sailed to the eastern Amundsen Sea Embayment and Pine Island Bay, one of the least studied Antarctic continental shelf regions due to its remoteness and ice cover. A total of 37 Agassiz trawls were deployed at depth transects along the continental and trough slopes. A total of 5469 specimens, belonging to 32 higher taxonomic groups and more than 270 species, were collected. Species richness per station varied from 1 to 55. The benthic assemblages were dominated by echinoderms and clearly different to those in the Ross, Scotia and Weddell seas. Here we present the macro- and megafaunal assem…