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Growth rates of arctic juvenile Scolelepis squamata (Polychaeta: Spionidae) isolated from Chukchi Sea fast ice

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Abstract

In spring, Arctic coastal fast ice is inhabited by high densities of sea ice algae and, among other fauna, juveniles of benthic polychaetes. This paper investigates the hypothesis that growth rates of juveniles of the common sympagic polychaete, Scolelepis squamata (Polychaeta: Spionidae), are significantly faster at sea ice algal bloom concentrations compared to concurrent phytoplankton concentrations. Juvenile S. squamata from fast ice off Barrow, Alaska, were fed with different algal concentrations at 0 and 5 °C, simulating ambient high sea ice algal concentrations, concurrent low phytoplankton concentrations, and an intermediate concentration. Growth rates, calculated using a simple linear regression equation, were significantly higher (up to 115 times) at the highest algal concentration compared to the lowest. At the highest algal concentration, juveniles grew faster at 5 °C compared to those feeding at 0 °C with a Q 10 of 2.0. We conclude that highly concentrated sea ice algae can sustain faster growth rates of polychaete juveniles compared to the less dense spring phytoplankton concentrations. The earlier melt of Arctic sea ice predicted with climate change might cause a mismatch between occurrence of polychaete juveniles and food availability in the near future. Our data indicate that this reduction in food availability might counteract any faster growth of a pelagic juvenile stage based on forecasted increased water temperatures.

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Acknowledgments

This publication is the result of a master’s degree thesis of the first author at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Funding was provided through an award from the National Science Foundation to BB and RG (NSF, Award ID: 0520566). Dr. Hajo Eicken (UAF) and the staff at the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) helped with the field logistics, and Max Hoberg (UAF) identified the polychaete juveniles. We acknowledge advice of Dr. Arny Blanchard (UAF) on statistics and polychaete biology. The manuscript was greatly improved by the suggestions of three anonymous referees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Brenna McConnell, Rolf Gradinger, Katrin Iken & Bodil A. Bluhm

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  1. Brenna McConnell
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  2. Rolf Gradinger
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  3. Katrin Iken
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  4. Bodil A. Bluhm
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Correspondence to Rolf Gradinger.

Electronic supplementary material

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300_2012_1187_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Fig. S1: Digital length measurement of a juvenile Scolelepis squamata (length = 6180 μm). Total body length was measured along the red line using ImageJ 1.37 V. (DOCX 361 kb)

300_2012_1187_MOESM2_ESM.eps

Fig. S2: Survival (% of initial number of polychaetes per well) in experiments 2, 3 and 4 at the various feeding treatments. (EPS 1219 kb)

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McConnell, B., Gradinger, R., Iken, K. et al. Growth rates of arctic juvenile Scolelepis squamata (Polychaeta: Spionidae) isolated from Chukchi Sea fast ice. Polar Biol 35, 1487–1494 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1187-2

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