Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information

Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information Julian Gutt Alfred Wegener Institute Professor

Columbusstr. Bremerhaven 27568 DE

High Cross, Madingley Road Cambridge CB3 0ET GB

+44 1223 221613 dkab@bas.ac.uk editor Susanne J. Lockhart NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center Contract Scientist

La Jolla Shore Drive La Jolla California CA 92037 US

+1 858 334 2852 susanne.lockhart@noaa.gov editor Anton van de Putte ANTABIF Science Officer

Vautierstraat 29 Brussels Brussels B-1000 BE

antonarctica@gmail.com editor 2012-07-19 eng Comprehensive information on Antarctic macrobenthic community structure is publicly available since the 1960s. It stems from trawl, dredge, grab, and corer samples as well as from direct and camera observations (Table 1). The quality of this information varies considerably; it consists of pure descriptions, figures for presence (absence) and abundance of some key taxa or proxies for such parameters, e.g. sea-floor cover. Some data sets even cover a defined and complete proportion of the macrobenthos with further analyses on diversity and zoogeography. As a consequence the acquisition of data from approximately 90 different campaigns assembled here was not standardised. Nevertheless, it was possible to classify this broad variety of known macrobenthic assemblages to the best of experts knowledge (Gutt 2007; Fig. 1). This overview does not replace statistically sound community and diversity analyses. However, it shows from where which kind of information is available and it acts as an example of the feasibility and power of such data collections. The data set provides unique georeferenced biological basic information for the planning of future coordinated research activities, e.g. under the umbrella of the biology program "Antarctic Thresholds - Ecosystem Resilience and Adaptation" (AnT-ERA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and especially for actual conservation issues, e.g. the planning of Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). macrobenthic communities trawls dredges grabs corers direct observations (scuba-diving sea-bed video sea-bed photography) n/a Additional files uploaded: list of references (Table 1) & classification of macrobenthic communities (Fig. 1). This [DATA(BASE)-NAME] is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License: http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/ The area generally covers almost the entire Southern Ocean, including some ice-shelf covered sites. The vast majority of information is from shelf areas around the continent at water depth shallower than 800m. Non-ice shelf covered shelf areas can be up to 300km wide or the shelf-edge at 600 to 800m depth can "disappear" beneath the floating ice-shelf. Shallow areas (<50m) are rare because 86% of the coast-line is glaciated or consists of an ice-shelf egde. A non-glaciated coast mainly exists along the Antarctic Peninsula. The coastline is either extremely complex with bays, channels , peninsulas, islands etc or less structured, especially where it is formed by the ice-shelf. Overdeepenend basins (inner-shelf depressions) can reach >1200m water depth. Most islands exist west of the Antarctic Peninsula and along the Scotia Arc linking the Peninsula with the southern tip of South America. The coastal waters are mainly affected by the Antarctic Coastal Current (East Wind Drift), whilst the largest off-shore part of the Southern Ocean is dominated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (West Wind Drift) with gyres of different size. Sediments are predominantly poorly sorted but also cobble "fields", bedrock and pure soft sediments exist. The Antarctic marine ecosystem is shaped by a distinct seasonality of the sea-ice cover affecting a short and intensive primary production in austral summer, by predominantly stable low temperature to which most organisms are specifically adapted and almost missing terrestrial run-off. Most of the shelf-inhabiting macrobenthic species are endemic; some taxa reach above-average species richness (Clarke & Johnston 2003). Only few marine habitats are protected, most of which are small. Plans and proposals for large Marine Protected Areas (MPA's), e.g. in East Antarctica, in the Ross and Weddell Seas exist and demand good scientific knowledge and data. -180 180 -52 -83 1956-03-01 2010-02-21 Macrobenthic communities have been uploaded in the category "vernacularNames", abbreviations in "taxonRemarks". sessile suspension feeders with associated fauna SSFA sessile suspension feeders with associated fauna - predator driven SSFA-PRED sessile suspension feeders with associated fauna - dominated by sponges SSFA-SPO sessile suspension feeders with associated fauna - dominated by others than sponges SSFA-OTH mixed assemblage MIX very low biomass or absence of trophic guilds VLB "monospecific" MONO physically controlled PHYCO mobile deposit feeders, infauna and grazers MOIN mobile deposit feeders, infauna and grazers - infauna dominated MOIN-INF mobile deposit feeders, infauna and grazers - epifauna dominated MOIN-EPI vent VENT seep SEEP Julian Gutt Alfred Wegener Institute Professor

Columbusstr. Bremerhaven 27568 DE

+49 471 4831 1333 julian.gutt@awi.de http://www.awi.de/de/forschung/fachbereiche/biowissenschaften/bentho_pelagische_prozesse/research_themes/biocomplexity/ Attribution of the information from the different sources (for references see Table 1) to the classified macrobenthic assemblages (Fig. 1) was done to the best of experts knowledge. The principal parameter, on which theses assumptions have been made was biomass or a proxy for biomass such as sea-floor coverage. Some information on benthic functioning is also included directly or indirectly, e.g. predation, competition, succession after ice-berg scouring, epi-biotic life-mode and oligotrophic conditions under ice shelves. Southern Ocean with emphasize on coastal shelf areas and some islands without specific temporal patterns of sampling. This project aggregates data from various expeditions with a full range of benthic sampling methods, such as grabs, corers, dredges, and trawls as well as non-invasive observations by scuba divers, stationary, towed, or ROV-based still and video-cameras. For detail descriptions see original publications in journals or data repositories (Table 1). A first version of the classification of the macrobenthic communities had been published in a peer-reviewed journal (Gutt 2007). A modified version had been published in the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment report (ACCE, Turner et al. 2009). The actual version is depicted in Fig. 1. Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information Julian Gutt editor 2012-07-19T08:17:45.429+02:00 dataset Gutt J, Barnes DKA, Lockhart S: Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information Clarke A, Johnston NM 2003. Antarctic marine benthic diversity. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 41: 47-114 Gutt J 2007. Antarctic macro-zoobenthic communities: a review and an ecological classification. Antarctic Science 9: 165-182 Turner J, Bindschadler R, Convey P, di Prisco G, Fahrbach E, Gutt J, Hodgson D, Mayewsky P, Summerhayes C 2009. Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment. SCAR, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge; 526pp http://ipt.biodiversity.aq/logo.do?r=macrobenthos nil nil nil other dd92c709-8f7d-4bf3-9897-901aa88486e5/v11.xml