Publication Date:
2018-06-18
Description:
The importance of newly formed sea ice in spring is likely to increase with formation of
leads in a more dynamic Arctic icescape. We followed the ice algal species succession
in young ice (≤0.27m) in spring at high temporal resolution (sampling every second day
for 1 month in May–June 2015) in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. We document
the early development of the ice algal community based on species abundance and
chemotaxonomic marker pigments, and relate the young-ice algal community to the
communities in the under-ice water column and the surrounding older ice. The seeding
source seemed to vary between algal groups. Dinoflagellates were concluded to originate
from the water column and diatoms from the surrounding older ice, which emphasizes
the importance of older ice as a seeding source over deep oceanic regions and in
early spring when algal abundance in the water column is low. In total, 120 taxa (80
identified to species or genus level) were recorded in the young ice. The protist community
developed over the study period from a ciliate, flagellate, and dinoflagellate dominated
community to one dominated by pennate diatoms. Environmental variables such as
light were not a strong driver for the community composition, based on statistical
analysis and comparison to the surrounding thicker ice with low light transmission. The
photoprotective carotenoids to Chl a ratio increased over time to levels found in other
high-light habitats, which shows that the algae were able to acclimate to the light levels
of the thin ice. The development into a pennate diatom-dominated community, similar
to the older ice, suggests that successional patterns tend toward ice-associated algae
fairly independent of environmental conditions like light availability, season or ice type, and
that biological traits, including morphological and physiological specialization to the sea
ice habitat, play an important role in colonization of the sea ice environment. However,
recruitment of ice-associated algae could be negatively affected by the ongoing loss of
older ice, which acts as a seeding repository.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf
Permalink