Koubbi, P.; Duhamel, G.; Hecq, J.-H.; Beans, C.; Loots, C.; Pruvost, P.; Tavernier, E.; Vacchi, M.; Vallet, C. (2009). Ichthyoplankton in the neritic and coastal zone of Antarctica and Subantarctic islands: A review. Revisiting the Role of Zooplankton in Pelagic Ecosystems, 78(4), 547–556.
Abstract: Since the article published by Loeb et al. [Loeb, V.J., Kellermann, A., Koubbi, P., North, A.W., White, M., 1993. Antarctic larval fish assemblages: a review. Bull. Mar. Sci. 53(2), 416-449.] about Antarctic ichthyoplankton, many surveys were carried out in different sectors of the Southern Ocean focusing on different aspects of the ecology of fish larvae. Some of these researches were conducted in the Subantarctic Kerguelen Islands and others on the continental shelf off Terre Adlie and Georges V land. Oceanographic and geographic features influence fish larvae ecology such as island mass effects, gyres, canyons. Antarctic fishes show also temporal segregation of spawning which induces temporal succession of early stage larvae. This avoids competition and probably the predation on early stages for species having few recruits. In that case, we have to understand how these larvae can deal with the match-mismatch with their preys and how they find sufficient food to survive. But our knowledge on Antarctic fish larvae is still insufficient as we do not know larvae for quite a lot of species and because of the difficulty to sample during winter.
Keywords: Fish larvae; Southern Ocean; Match-mismatch; Distribution; Life cycle
Programme: 1142
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Roquet, F.; Park, Y.-H.; Guinet, C.; Bailleul, Frdric; Charrassin, Jean-Benot. (2009). Observations of the Fawn Trough Current over the Kerguelen Plateau from instrumented elephant seals. Special Issue on Observational Studies of Oceanic Fronts, 78(3), 377–393.
Abstract: Due to its great meridional extent and relatively shallow depths, the Kerguelen Plateau constitutes a major barrier to the eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. While most of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current transport is deflected north of the Kerguelen Islands, the remainder (~50Sv, 1Sv=106m3 s-1) must pass south of the islands, most probably through the Fawn and Princess Elizabeth Troughs. However, the paucity of finely resolved quasi-synoptic hydrographic data in this remote and infrequently sampled area has limited the progress in our knowledge of the regional circulation. Since 2004, a new approach using elephant seals from the Kerguelen Islands as autonomous oceanographic profilers has provided new information on the hydrography over the Kerguelen Plateau, covering the entire Antarctic Zone between the Polar Front and Antarctica, with a mean along-track resolution of about 25km. These finely resolved bio-logged data revealed details of a strong northeastward current found across the Fawn Trough (sill depth: 2600m; 56S, 78E). This so-called Fawn Trough Current transports cold Antarctic waters found mostly south of the Elan Bank, between the Ice Limit (58S) and the Antarctic Divergence (64S) in the eastern Enderby Basin, toward the Australian-Antarctic Basin. Our analysis also demonstrates that the Deep Western Boundary Current, which carries cold Antarctic water along the eastern flank of the southern Kerguelen Plateau collides with Fawn Trough Current at the outlet of the Fawn Trough sill. In other words, the Fawn Trough constitutes a veritable bottleneck, channelling the quasi-totality of the Antarctic Circumpolar flow found south of the Polar Front. Thanks to the unprecedented fine resolution of seal-borne data, a branch of flow centered at the Winter Water isotherm of 1C is also revealed along the northern escarpment of the Elan Bank, and then along the southern edge of Heard Island. Further analysis of different supplementary data reveals a complex circulation pattern in the entire Enderby Basin, with several distinctive branches of flow being strongly controlled by prominent topographic features such as the Southwest Indian Ridge, Conrad Rise, Elan Bank, and Kerguelen Plateau. This newly emerged frontal structure refines considerably previous large-scale circulation schematics of the area.
Keywords: Fawn Trough Current; Kerguelen Plateau [46-62S, 65-85E ]; Ocean circulation; Oceanic fronts; Southern Ocean; Bio-logging; Elephant seals
Programme: 109
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Bost, C.A.; Cott, C.; Bailleul, F.; Cherel, Y.; Charrassin, J.B.; Guinet, C.; Ainley, D.G.; Weimerskirch, H. (2009). The importance of oceanographic fronts to marine birds and mammals of the southern oceans. Special Issue on Observational Studies of Oceanic Fronts, 78(3), 363–376.
Abstract: During the last 30years, at-sea studies of seabirds and marine mammals in the oceans south of the Subtropical Front have described an association with major frontal areas. More recently, the advancement in microtechnology has allowed the tracking of individuals and investigations into how these marine predators actually use the frontal zones. In this review, we examine 1) the relative importance to apex predators of the different frontal zones in terms of spatial distribution and carbon flux; 2) the processes that determine their preferential use; and 3) how the mesoscale dynamics of frontal structures drive at-sea foraging strategies of these predators. We review published results from southern waters and place them in a broader context with respect to what has been learned about the importance of fronts in oceans farther north.
Some fronts constitute important boundaries for seabird communities in southern waters. At a mesoscale the maximum values of seabird diversity and abundance correspond to the location of the main fronts. At-sea surveys show a strong curvilinear correlation between seabird abundance and sea surface temperatures. High mean species richness and diversity for whales and seabirds are consistently associated with the southern water mass boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the Subtropical Front and the Subantarctic Front; in the case of the Polar Front mean seabird densities are more variable. At small-scales, variation in seabird occurrence has been directly related to the processes at fronts in a limited number of cases. A significant positive relation was found between some plankton feeding species and frontal temperature gradient-phytoplankton variables.
Telemetric studies have revealed that several apex predators (penguins, albatrosses, seals) perform long, directed foraging trips either to the Subtropical front or Polar Front, depending on locality. Seabirds with low flight costs, such as albatrosses, are able to reach fronts at long distances from colonies, showing variable foraging strategies as a function of the distances involved. Diving birds such as King penguins, that travel at a higher cost and lower speed, rely on the predictable spatial distribution of mesopelagic fish found close to the Polar Front. They may use the currents associated with eddies as oceanographic cues in the active search for frontal zones. Once in these areas they dive preferentially in and below the depth of the thermocline where catches per unit effort are high. Elephant seals concentrate foraging activity principally inside or at the boundary of cyclonic eddies. These mesoscale features appear to offer exceptional productivity favourable for foraging by various diving top predators.
The connection between biophysical parameters at fronts and predators is likely to be made through biological enhancement. Top predators appear to forage at locations where prey are advected by physical processes and others where prey are produced locally. Long-term research on at-sea distributions and demographic parameters of top predators are essential to assess the consequences of potential shift in front distributions in relation to global warming. Such environmental changes would add to the impact of fish extraction by the industrial fisheries on the southern food webs.
Keywords: Seabird; Sea mammals; Fronts; Foraging strategies; Bio-logging
Programme: 109; 394
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. (2008). King penguin population threatened by Southern Ocean warming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(7), 2493–2497.
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. (2006). Body Mass and Clutch Size May Modulate Prolactin and Corticosterone Levels in Eiders. Physiol. Biochem. Zool., 79(3), 514–521.
Abstract: Altered body condition, increased incubation costs, and egg loss are important proximate factors modulating bird parental behavior, since they inform the adult about its remaining chances of survival or about the expected current reproductive success. Hormonal changes should reflect internal or external stimuli, since corticosterone levels (inducing nest abandonment) are known to increase while body condition deteriorates, and prolactin levels (stimulating incubation) decrease following egg predation. However, in a capital incubator that based its investment on available body reserves and naturally lost about half of its body mass during incubation, corticosterone should be maintained at a low threshold to avoid protein mobilization for energy supply. This study focused on the regulation of corticosterone and prolactin release in such birds during incubation, when facing egg manipulation (control, reduced, or increased) or a stressful event. Blood samples were taken before and after clutch manipulation and at hatching. Corticosterone levels were determined before and after 30 min of captivity. Female eiders exhibited a high hypothalamic?pituitary?adrenal sensitivity, plasma concentration of corticosterone being increased by four? to fivefold following 30 min of captivity. The adrenocortical response was not modified by body mass loss but was higher in birds for which clutch size was increased. In the same way, females did not show different prolactin levels among the experimental groups. However, when incubation started, prolactin levels were correlated to body mass, suggesting that nest attendance is programmed in relation to the female initial body condition. Moreover, due to an artifactual impact of bird manipulation, increased baseline corticosterone was associated with a prolactin decrease in the control group. These data suggest that, in eiders, body mass and clutch size modification can modulate prolactin and corticosterone levels, which cross?regulate each other in order to finely control incubation behavior.
Programme: 332
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Simmonds P.G., Manning A.J., Derwent R.G., Ciais P., Ramonet M., Kazan V. & Ryall D. (2005). A burning question. Can recent growth rate anomalies in the greenhouse gases be attributed to large-scale biomass burning events? Atmospheric environment, 39(14), 2513–2517.
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Falk-Petersen, S.; Mayzaud, P.; Kattner, G.; Sargent, J.R. (2009). Lipids and life strategy of Arctic Calanus. Marine Biology Research, 5(1), 18–39.
Abstract: The three Arctic Calanus species, C. finmarchicus (Gunnerus, 1765), C. glacialis (Jaschov, 1955), and C. hyperboreus, are the most important herbivores in Arctic seas in terms of species biomass. They play a key role in the lipid-based energy flux in the Arctic, converting low-energy carbohydrates and proteins in ice algae and phytoplankton into high-energy wax esters. In this paper we review the over-wintering strategy, seasonal migration, stage development, life span, feeding strategy, body size, lipid biochemistry and the geographic distribution of the three dominant Calanus species in Arctic waters. We then relate these parameters to other biotic and abiotic factors, such as the timing of the Arctic phytoplankton and ice algae bloom, sea ice cover and climate variability. We also present new data on fatty acid and fatty alcohol content in the three Calanus species in addition to reviewing the available literature on these topics. These data are analysed for species homogeneity and geographic grouping. The dominance of diatom fatty acid trophic markers in the lipids of Calanus underpins the importance of diatoms as Arctic primary producers, even if dinoflagellates and Phaeocystis pouchetii can also be important food sources for the calanoid copepods. We conclude that the Arctic Calanus species are herbivores, engineered to feed on the Arctic bloom, and that the timing of the bloom is the most important factor in determining the life strategies of the individual species.
Programme: 455
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. (2007).
Abstract: Carbo-Ocean thrid annual meeting
Programme: 439
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Grannas et al. (2008). An overview of snow photochemistry: evidence, mechanisms and impacts. Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 7.
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Masson-Delmotte, V.; Dreyfus, G.; Braconnot, P.; Johnsen, S.; Jouzel, J.; Kageyama, M.; Landais, A.; Loutre, M.-F.; Nouet, J.; Parrenin, F.; Raynaud, D.; Stenni, B.; Tuenter, E. (2006). Past temperature reconstructions from deep ice cores: relevance for future climate change. Climate of the past, 2(2), 145–165.
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