Summer at-sea distribution of seabirds and marine mammals in polar ecosystems: a comparison between the European Arctic seas and the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

doi:10.1016/S0924-7963(00)00072-5

Journal of Marine Systems

Volume 27, Issues 1–3, December 2000, Pages 267-276

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-7963(00)00072-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

The summer at-sea distribution of seabirds and marine mammals was quantitatively established both in Antarctica (Weddell Sea) and in the European Arctic: Greenland, Norwegian and Barents seas. Data can directly be compared, since the same transect counts were applied by the same team from the same icebreaking ship in both regions. The main conclusion is that densities of seabirds and marine mammals are similar in open water and at the ice edge from both polar regions, while the presence of Adélie penguins, minke whales and crabeater seals in densities more than one order of magnitude higher in Antarctic pack-ice must reflect a major ecological difference between both polar systems. The ecological implications of these observations are discussed, especially concerning important primary and secondary (krill) productions under the Weddell Sea pack-ice.

Introduction

The quantitative analysis of the at-sea distribution of seabirds and marine mammals provides useful information on the ecological structure of the ecosystems they belong to, since they integrate and reflect the availability of food, i.e. from primary production to herbivores, carnivores, microbial loop and sedimentation, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Data collected in the North Sea showed that seabird distribution is bound to the main water masses, as recognised by water temperature and salinity characteristics (Joiris, 1978). Such differences are to be explained by differences in the ecological structure of the water column, with a classical herbivorous food chain leading to high zooplankton and pelagic fish production in Atlantic water, but a short-cut of primary production to microbial loop and sedimentation in North Sea water (Joiris et al., 1982).

In the Antarctic, a known paradox concerns the pelagic production by phytoplankton, namely that actual primary production is lower than expected from light conditions and nutrients concentration (e.g. Heywood and Whitaker in Laws, 1984, Tréguer and Jacques, 1992, Knox, 1994). The second paradox is that production of the higher trophic levels, on the contrary, is higher than the one of northern polar regions (e.g. Knox, 1994).

This paper deals with a quantitative comparison of seabirds and marine mammals at-sea distribution in both polar regions, with emphasis on the importance of the less studied ice-covered zones.

Section snippets

Methods

Seabirds and marine mammals (pinnipeds and cetaceans) at-sea distribution was determined by transect counts mainly carried out on board the German icebreaking RV Polarstern. Taking into account the large size range of animals concerned: from very small petrels to albatrosses and whales, we decided not to apply the “usual” method with a transect width limited to 300 m, as proposed by Tasker et al. (1984) for the North Sea, but on the contrary, without width limitation. In order to convert actual

Results and discussion

A summary of the data collected during different spring and summer expeditions is presented in Table 1 for the Greenland, Norwegian and Barents seas, and in Table 2 for the Weddell Sea, in order to show the basic recorded data and the effort involved in this study. In the Arctic, 27 seabird species were encountered, of which four species represent 95% and more of the total numbers: fulmar F. glacialis, little auk A. alle, kittiwake R. tridactyla, and Brünnich's guillemot Uria lomvia. In the

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Dirk Van Speybroeck, APNA, VUB, for support in applying the cluster analysis.

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Citation Excerpt :
Comparative studies have been successfully applied and have helped to understand the impacts of climate on marine ecosystems (e.g., Moline et al., 2008; Megrey et al., 2009; Barange et al., 2010; Mueter et al., 2012; Hunt et al., 2013). Many studies comparing the Arctic and Antarctic have been undertaken in the past, focusing on such topics as: climate change (Turner and Overland, 2009; Marshall et al., 2014), microbes (Bano et al., 2004), ice bacteria (Brinkmeyer et al., 2003), sea-ice algae and phytoplankton (Tremblay and Smith, 2007; Arrigo et al., 2010), foraminifera (Darling et al., 2000), fungi (Robinson, 2001), benthos (George, 1977; Starmans and Gutt, 2002; Zacher et al., 2009), zooplankton (Falk-Petersen et al., 2000; Deibel and Daly, 2007; Walkusz et al., 2004; McBride et al., 2014), fishes (Eastman, 1997; McBride et al., 2014) and seabirds (Hunt and Nettleship, 1988; Joiris, 2000). However, no comparative studies have focused on the role of advection, which can play a defining role in the structure and functioning of polar marine ecosystems.
We compare and contrast the ecological impacts of atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on polar and sub-polar marine ecosystems. Circulation patterns differ strikingly between the north and south. Meridional circulation in the north provides connections between the sub-Arctic and Arctic despite the presence of encircling continental landmasses, whereas annular circulation patterns in the south tend to isolate Antarctic surface waters from those in the north. These differences influence fundamental aspects of the polar ecosystems from the amount, thickness and duration of sea ice, to the types of organisms, and the ecology of zooplankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Meridional flows in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans transport heat, nutrients, and plankton northward into the Chukchi Sea, the Barents Sea, and the seas off the west coast of Greenland. In the North Atlantic, the advected heat warms the waters of the southern Barents Sea and, with advected nutrients and plankton, supports immense biomasses of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. On the Pacific side of the Arctic, cold waters flowing northward across the northern Bering and Chukchi seas during winter and spring limit the ability of boreal fish species to take advantage of high seasonal production there. Southward flow of cold Arctic waters into sub-Arctic regions of the North Atlantic occurs mainly through Fram Strait with less through the Barents Sea and the Canadian Archipelago. In the Pacific, the transport of Arctic waters and plankton southward through Bering Strait is minimal.
In the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts are barriers to the southward dispersal of plankton and pelagic fishes from sub-Antarctic waters, with the consequent evolution of Antarctic zooplankton and fish species largely occurring in isolation from those to the north. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current also disperses biota throughout the Southern Ocean, and as a result, the biota tends to be similar within a given broad latitudinal band. South of the Southern Boundary of the ACC, there is a large-scale divergence that brings nutrient-rich water to the surface. This divergence, along with more localized upwelling regions and deep vertical convection in winter, generates elevated nutrient levels throughout the Antarctic at the end of austral winter. However, such elevated nutrient levels do not support elevated phytoplankton productivity through the entire Southern Ocean, as iron concentrations are rapidly removed to limiting levels by spring blooms in deep waters. However, coastal regions, with the upward mixing of iron, maintain greatly enhanced rates of production, especially in coastal polynyas. In these coastal areas, elevated primary production supports large biomasses of zooplankton, fish, seabirds, and mammals. As climate warming affects these advective processes and their heat content, there will likely be major changes in the distribution and abundance of polar biota, in particular the biota dependent on sea ice.
The Weddell Gyre, Southern Ocean: Present Knowledge and Future Challenges
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Journal of Marine Systems

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Methods

Results and discussion

Acknowledgements

References (20)

Summer distribution and ecological role of seabirds and marine mammals in the Norwegian and Greenland seas (June 1988)

J. Mar. Syst.

A budget of carbon cycling in the Belgian coastal zone: relative roles of zooplankton, bacterioplankton and benthos in the utilization of primary production

Neth. J. Sea Res.

Summer distribution of seabirds in the North–East Water polynya, Greenland

J. Mar. Syst.

Consumption of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) by seabirds during summer in the Prydz Bay region, Antarctica

Seabirds

Marine ornithology in the southern Drake Passage and Bransfield Starit during the BIOMASS Programme

Seabirds seen during a return voyage from Belgium to Greenland in July

Gerfaut

Seabirds recorded in the North Sea in July: the ecological implications of their distribution

Gerfaut

Spring distribution and ecological role of seabirds and marine mammals in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Polar Biol.

At-sea distribution of seabirds and marine mammals around Svalbard, summer 1991

Polar Biol.

Cited by (15)

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

The Weddell Gyre, Southern Ocean: Present Knowledge and Future Challenges

Observations of floating anthropogenic litter in the Barents Sea and Fram Strait, Arctic

Low Density of Top Predators (Seabirds and Marine Mammals) in the High Arctic Pack Ice

Observations of cetaceans in the south-east Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, during summer 2008

Possible Impact of Decreasing Arctic Pack Ice on the Higher Trophic Levels: Seabirds and Marine Mammals