Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27568, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Universität Bremen (Fachbereich 2, Biologie/Chemie), 28334, Bremen, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2020 May 6;11(1):2226. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16093-z.
Ice retreat in West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula has led to important changes in seafloor communities and gains in benthic blue carbon. In most of the Antarctic, however, sea ice increased between the 1970s and 2014, but its effects on the benthos remain largely unexplored. Here, we provide a 1988-2014 record of macro- and megafauna from the north-eastern Weddell Sea shelf, where benthic biomass decreased by two thirds and composition shifted from suspension feeders to deposit feeders. Concomitant increases in sea-ice cover suggest a reduced flux of primary production to the benthos. As benthic communities are major repositories for Antarctic biodiversity and play an important role in biogeochemical cycling, the observed changes have far-reaching consequences for the Antarctic ecosystem and its feedback to the climate system. The findings underscore the importance of long-term ecological monitoring in a region vulnerable to warming and ice-shelf collapse.
西南极洲和南极半岛的冰架退缩导致海底生物群落发生重要变化，增加了海底蓝碳储量。然而，在南极的大部分地区，海冰在 20 世纪 70 年代至 2014 年间增加，但海冰对海底生物的影响在很大程度上仍未得到探索。在这里，我们提供了 1988 年至 2014 年来自威德尔海东北部大陆架的大型和巨型动物群的记录，在那里，底栖生物量减少了三分之二，生物组成从悬浮食者转变为沉积食者。同期海冰覆盖面积的增加表明，向海底输送的初级生产力减少。由于底栖生物群落是南极生物多样性的主要储存库，并在生物地球化学循环中发挥着重要作用，因此观察到的变化对南极生态系统及其对气候系统的反馈产生了深远的影响。这些发现强调了在一个容易受到变暖和冰架崩塌影响的地区进行长期生态监测的重要性。
