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Seasonal variations in distribution patterns of sympagic meiofauna in Arctic pack ice

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Abstract

During two expeditions of the R.V. “Polarstern” to the Arctic Ocean, pack ice and under-ice water samples were collected during two different seasons: late summer (September 2002) and late winter (March/April 2003). Physical and biological properties of the ice were investigated to explain seasonal differences in species composition, abundance and distribution patterns of sympagic meiofauna (in this case: heterotrophs >20 µm). In winter, the ice near the surface was characterized by extreme physical conditions (minimum ice temperature: −22°C, maximum brine salinity: 223, brine volume: ≤5%) and more moderate conditions in summer (minimum ice temperature: −5.6°C, maximum brine salinity: 94, most brine volumes: ≥5%). Conditions in the lowermost part of the ice did not differ to a high degree between summer and winter. Chlorophyll a concentrations (chl a) showed significant differences between summer and winter: during winter, concentrations were mostly <1.0 µg chl a l−1, while chl a concentrations of up to 67.4 µmol l−1 were measured during summer. The median of depth-integrated chl a concentration in summer was significantly higher than in winter. Integrated abundances of sympagic meiofauna were within the same range for both seasons and varied between 0.6 and 34.1×103 organisms m−2 in summer and between 3.7 and 24.8×103 organisms m−2 in winter. With regard to species composition, a comparison between the two seasons showed distinct differences: while copepods (42.7%) and rotifers (33.4%) were the most abundant sea-ice meiofaunal taxa during summer, copepod nauplii dominated the community, comprising 92.9% of the fauna, in winter. Low species abundances were found in the under-ice water, indicating that overwintering of the other sympagic organisms did not take place there, either. Therefore, their survival strategy over the polar winter remains unclear.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the captains, the crews and the chief scientists of the R.V. “Polarstern” for their cooperation during the cruises ARK XVIII-2 and ARK XIX-1, as well as all those who supported us at the ice stations. A. Scheltz is gratefully acknowledged for her help in the field and for doing the chlorophyll analyses. J. Schwarz is acknowledged for her linguistic help. The valuable comments of K. Meiners and three anonymous referees on an earlier draft of the manuscript are gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to H. Schünemann.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

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Schünemann, H., Werner, I. Seasonal variations in distribution patterns of sympagic meiofauna in Arctic pack ice. Marine Biology 146, 1091–1102 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1511-7

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