Journal
OCEAN SCIENCE JOURNAL
Volume 51, Issue 2, Pages 273-279Publisher
KOREA OCEAN RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT INST
DOI: 10.1007/s12601-016-0023-y
Keywords
Antarctic fjord; glacier melting; benthic diatom; Paralia sulcata; benthic megafauna; Marian Cove; King George Island
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Funding
- project (MOF) - Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea [PM 15040]
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We report a conspicuous benthic diatom bloom on an Antarctic fjord shallow seafloor, which has not been reported elsewhere in Antarctica. A thick and massive growth of benthic diatoms was covering or being entangled with a variety of common benthic megafauna such as stalked ascidians, sponges, tubedwelling polychaetes, gastropods, bryozoans, and others. This finding is an outcome of recent investigations on benthic communities in Marian Cove, King George Island, where glacier retreat has been proceeding quickly for the past several decades. Dominance of benthic diatoms during the austral summer has been frequently reported in shallow Antarctic nearshore waters, which in turn indicates their potential as a primary food item for secondary producers living in this harsh environment. However, previous blooming records of the benthic diatoms were primarily based on data from water column samples. We are the first to report observational evidence of shallow seafloor substrates, including the massive blooming of benthic diatoms and their associations with common benthic megafauna in an Antarctic fjord.
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