Hückstädt Luis A, McCarthy Matthew D, Koch Paul L, Costa Daniel P
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2017 Aug 30;284(1861). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0927.
The arrival of humans to Antarctica's Ross Sea (100+ years ago) led to a slow, but sustained increase in human activities in the area. To investigate if human presence has influenced the structure of the ecosystem over the last century, we compared historical ( 100 years old) and modern samples of a sentinel species, the Weddell seal (), using both bulk tissue and compound-specific stable isotope analysis. The historical isotopic niche of Weddell seals was over five times larger than the modern niche. The isotopic values of individual amino acids showed a clear segregation between historical and modern samples, indicative of differences at the base of the trophic web. Further, we found no significant differences in the trophic position of Weddell seals between the two periods. Our study revealed that the Ross Sea has undergone detectable changes (i.e. in the primary producers community) in the last century, but the presence of humans has not disrupted trophic interactions supporting Weddell seals.
人类在100多年前抵达南极洲罗斯海，导致该地区人类活动缓慢但持续增加。为了调查过去一个世纪人类的存在是否影响了生态系统结构，我们使用整体组织和化合物特异性稳定同位素分析，比较了一种指示物种——威德尔海豹（）的历史样本（100年历史）和现代样本。威德尔海豹的历史同位素生态位比现代生态位大五倍多。单个氨基酸的同位素值在历史样本和现代样本之间显示出明显的分离，表明营养网底部存在差异。此外，我们发现两个时期威德尔海豹的营养级没有显著差异。我们的研究表明，罗斯海在上个世纪经历了可检测到的变化（即初级生产者群落的变化），但人类的存在并未破坏支持威德尔海豹的营养相互作用。
