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Microzooplankton composition in the winter sea ice of the Weddell Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2017

Marina Monti-Birkenmeier ,
Tommaso Diociaiuti ,
Serena Fonda Umani  and
Bettina Meyer
Marina Monti-Birkenmeier*
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale, Via A. Piccard 54, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
Tommaso Diociaiuti
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 10, I-34127, Trieste, Italy
Serena Fonda Umani
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 10, I-34127, Trieste, Italy
Bettina Meyer
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Section Polar Biological Oceanography, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Carl von Ossietzky Straße 9-11, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
*
mmonti@inogs.it
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Abstract

Sympagic microzooplankton were studied during late winter in the northern Weddell Sea for diversity, abundance and carbon biomass. Ice cores were collected on an ice floe along three dive transects and seawater was taken from under the ice through the central dive hole from which all transects were connected. The areal and vertical microzooplankton distributions in the ice and water were compared. Abundance (max. 1300 ind. l-1) and biomass (max. 28.2 µg C l-1) were high in the ice cores and low in the water below the sea ice (max. 19 ind. l-1, 0.15 µg C l-1, respectively). The highest abundances were observed in the bottom 10 cm of the ice cores. The microzooplankton community within the sea ice comprised mainly aloricate ciliates, foraminifers and micrometazoans. In winter, microzooplankton represent an important fraction of the sympagic community in the Antarctic sea ice. They can potentially control microalgal production and contribute to particulate organic carbon concentrations when released into the water column during the ice melt in spring. Continued reduction of the sea ice may undermine the roles of microzooplankton, leading to a reduction or complete loss of diversity, abundance and biomass of these sympagic protists.

Keywords

aloricate ciliatesforaminifersmicrometazoanssympagic protiststintinnids
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , August 2017 , pp. 299 - 310
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

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