Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Life Beyond the Ice

Marine Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean

  • Chapter
Exploring the Last Continent

Abstract

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current isolates Antarctic waters and their living organisms from warmer waters to the north. Over the last 25–35 million years, this isolation has led to specific environmental conditions, including a sharp drop in water temperatures south of the Polar Frontal Zone and the formation of sea ice during winter. Three key factors control productivity in the Southern Ocean today. Firstly, the Southern Ocean contains about 1.8 times as much oxygen as tropical seawater because more oxygen can dissolve in water at lower temperatures. Secondly, upwelling currents bring nutrients from the seabed to feed microscopic algae at the surface, and, lastly, the seasonal formation of sea ice has a profound impact on marine life. In addition, there is a long period of low or no light in winter, extreme physical disturbance from icebergs and a very high level of coastal productivity. All these factors have been important in the evolution of the characteristic Southern Ocean species and have resulted in a high degree of endemism, particularly in certain groupings of Antarctic organisms such as crustaceans and fish. The Southern Ocean represents 9.6 % of the world’s oceans and is a key part of Earth’s system. As the climate changes and sea level rises, the behavior of deep-ocean currents associated with the global thermohaline conveyor belt is altered and marine organisms respond. Our knowledge of the Southern Ocean has increased considerably in the last 20 years, but our understanding of adaptations, biological cycles and responses to change is still poor and more research is needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adam PJ (2005) Lobodon carcinophaga. Mamm Species 772:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong AJ, Siegfried WR (1991) Consumption of Antarctic krill by minke whales. Antarct Sci 3:13–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes DKA, Peck LS (2008) Vulnerability of Antarctic shelf biodiversity to predicted regional warming. Climate Res 37:149–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherel Y (2008) Isotopic niches of emperor and Adélie penguins in Adélie Land, Antarctica. Mar Biol 154:813–821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke A, Meredith MP, Wallace MI, Brandon MA, Thomas DN (2008) Seasonal and interannual variability in temperature, chlorophyll and macronutrients in northern Marguerite Bay, Antarctica. Deep Sea Res II (Palmer LTER Special Issue) 55:1988–2006

    Google Scholar 

  • Croxall JP, Reid K, Prince PA (1999) Diet, provisioning and productivity responses of marine predators to differences in availability of Antarctic krill. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 177:115–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasamatsu F, Joyce GG (1995) Current status of odontocetes in the Antarctic. Antarct Sci 7:365–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy EJ, Watkins JL, Trathan PN, Reid K, Meredith MP, Thorpe SE, Johnston NM, Clarke A, Tarling GA, Collins MA, Forcada J, Shreeve RS, Atkinson A, Korb R, Whitehouse MJ, Ward P, Rodhouse PG, Enderlein P, Hirst AG, Martin AG, Hill SL, Staniland IJ, Pond DW, Briggs DR, Cunningham NJ, Fleming AH (2007) Spatial and temporal operation of the Scotia Sea ecosystem: a review of large-scale links in a krill centred food web. Philos Trans R Soc B 362:113–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS (2002) Ecophysiology of Antarctic marine ectotherms: limits to life. Polar Biol 25:31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Barnes DKA, Cook AJ, Fleming AH, Clarke A (2010a) Negative feedback in the cold: ice retreat produces new carbon sinks in Antarctica. Glob Chang Biol 16:2614–2623

    Google Scholar 

  • Plötz J, Ekau W, Reijnders PJH (2008) Diet of Weddell seals Leptonychotes weddellii at Vestkapp, Eastern Weddell Sea (Antarctica), in relation to local food supply. Mar Mamm Sci 7:136–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirihai H (2008) A complete guide to Antarctic wildlife: the birds and marine mammals of the Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean. A & C Black Publications, London, p 544

    Google Scholar 

  • Staniland IJ, Robinson SL (2008) Segregation between the sexes: Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella, foraging at South Georgia. Anim Behav 75:1581–1590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visser IN, Smith TG, Bullock ID, Green GD, Carlsson OGL, Imberti S (2008) Antarctic peninsula killer whales (Orcinus orca) hunt seals and a penguin on floating ice. Mar Mamm Sci 24:225–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams TD (1995) The penguins. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Xavier JC, Cherel Y (2009) Cephalopod beak guide for the Southern Ocean. British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, p 129

    Google Scholar 

  • Xavier JC, Croxall JP, Reid K (2003) Inter-annual variation in the diets of two albatross species breeding at South Georgia: implications of breeding performance. Ibis 145:593–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xavier JC, Trathan PN, Croxall JP, Wood AG, Podesta G, Rodhouse PG (2004) Foraging ecology and interactions with fisheries of wandering albatrosses at South Georgia. Fish Oceanogr 13(5):324–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xavier JC, Rodhouse PG, Croxall JP, Wood AG (2007) Inter-annual variations in cephalopod consumption by albatrosses at South Georgia: implications for future commercial exploitation of cephalopods. Mar Freshw Res 58:1136–1143

    Article  Google Scholar 

Further Reading on Antarctic Benthic Ecosystem

  • Abele D, Puntarulo S (2004) Formation of reactive species and induction of antioxidant defence systems in polar and temperate marine invertebrates and fish. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 183:405–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arntz WE, Gutt J, Klages M (1997) Antarctic marine biodiversity: an overview. In: Battaglia B (ed) Antarctic communities: species, structure and survival. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes DKA, Griffiths HG (2008) Biodiversity and biogeography of southern temperate and polar bryozoans. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 17:84–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt A (2005) Evolution of Antarctic biodiversity in the context of the past: the importance of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Antarct Sci 17:509–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandt A, Gooday AJ, Brandão SN, Brix S, Brökeland W, Cedhagen T, Choudhury M, Cornelius N, Danis D, De Mesel I, Diaz RJ, Gillan DC, Ebbe B, Howe JA, Janussen D, Kaiser S, Linse K, Malyutina M, Pawlowski J, Raupach M, Vanreusel A (2007) First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Nature 444:307–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapelle G, Peck LS (1999) Polar gigantism dictated by oxygen availability. Nature 399:114–115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke A, Johnston NM (2003) Antarctic marine benthic diversity. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 41:47–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray JH (2001) Antarctic marine benthic biodiversity in a worldwide latitudinal context. Polar Biol 24:633–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutzmann E, Martínez Arbizu P, Rose A, Veit-Köhler G (2004) Meiofauna communities along an abyssal depth gradient in the Drake Passage. Deep Sea Res II 51:1617–1628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoegh-Guldberg O, Pearse JS (1995) Temperature, food availability and the development of marine invertebrate larvae. Am Zool 35:415–425

    Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS (2002) Ecophysiology of Antarctic marine ectotherms: limits to life. Polar Biol 25:31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Bullough LW (1993) Growth and population structure in the infaunal bivalve Yoldia eightsi in relation to iceberg activity at Signy Island, Antarctica. Mar Biol 117:235–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Powell DK, Tyler PA (2007) Very slow development in two Antarctic bivalve molluscs, the infaunal clam Laternula elliptica and the scallop Adamussium colbecki. Mar Biol 150:1191–1197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Clark MS, Morley SA, Massey A, Rossetti H (2009a) Animal temperature limits and ecological relevance: effects of size, activity and rates of change. Funct Ecol 23:248–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Massey A, Thorne M, Clark MS (2009b) Lack of acclimation in Ophionotus victoriae: brittle stars are not fish. Polar Biol 32:399–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pörtner HO, Somero GA, Peck LS (2007) Thermal limits and adaptation in marine Antarctic ectotherms: an integrative view. In: Rogers A, Murphy E (eds) Antarctic ecology, from genes to ecosystems. Special Volume Philosophical, Transactions of the Royal Society of London doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1947

  • Smith WO, Ainley DG, Cattaneo-Vietti R (2007) Trophic interactions within the Ross Sea continental shelf ecosystem. Philos Trans R Soc B 362:95–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams A, Althaus F, Clark MR, Gowlett-Holmes K (2011) Composition and distribution of deep-sea benthic invertebrate megafauna on the Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk Ridge, southwest Pacific Ocean. Deep Sea Res II – Top Stud Oceanogr 58:948–958

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Further Reading on Antarctic Pelagic Ecosystem

  • Atkinson A, Siegel V, Pakhomov E, Rothery P (2004) Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean. Nature 432:100–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berkman PA (1992) The Antarctic marine ecosystem and humankind. Rev Aquat Sci 6:295–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins MA, Rodhouse PG (2006) Southern Ocean cephalopods. Adv Mar Biol 50:191–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins M, Xavier JC, Johnston N, North AW, Enderlein P, Tarling GA, Waluda C, Hawker E, Cunningham N (2008) Patterns in the distribution of myctophid fish in the northern Scotia Sea ecosystem. Polar Biol 31:837–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ducklow HW, Baker K, Martinson DG, Langdon LB, Ross MR, Smith RC, Stammerjohn SE, Vernet M, Fraser W (2007) Marine pelagic ecosystems: the West Antarctic Peninsula. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 362:67–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eastman JT (1993) Antarctic fish biology: evolution in a unique environment. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Everson I (1977) The living resources of the Southern Ocean. FAO, Rome, p 160

    Google Scholar 

  • Everson I (2000) Krill: biology, ecology and fisheries. Blackwell Science, Oxford, p 372

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holm-Hansen O, Naganobu M, Kawaguchi S, Kameda T, Krasovski I, Tchernyshkov P, Priddle J, Korb R, Brandon M, Demer D, Hewitt RP, Kahru M, Hewes CD (2004) Factors influencing the distribution, biomass, and productivity of phytoplankton in the Scotia Sea and adjoining waters. Deep Sea Res II 51:1333–1350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knox GA (2007) The biology of the Southern Ocean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 444

    Google Scholar 

  • Kock K-H (1992) Antarctic fish and fisheries. University Press, Cambridge, p 359

    Google Scholar 

  • Legendre L, Ackley SF, Dieckmann GS, Gulliksen V, Horner R, Hoshiai T, Melnikov IA, Reeburgh WS, Spindler M, Sullivan CW (1992) Ecology of sea ice biota. Polar Biol 12:429–444

    Google Scholar 

  • Lizotte MP (2001) The contributions of sea ice algae to Antarctic marine primary production. Integr Comp Biol 41:57–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodhouse PG, White MG (1995) Cephalopods occupy the ecological niche of epipelagic fish in the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone. Biol Bull 189:77–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shreeve RS, Collins MA, Tarling GA, Main CE, Ward P, Johnston NM (2009) Feeding ecology of myctophid fish in the northern Scotia Sea. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 336:226–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Wohrmann AP (1995) Antifreeze glycopeptides in the high-Antarctic silverfish Pleurogramma antarcticum (Notothenioidei). Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Endocrinol 111(1):121–129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xavier JC, Phillips RA, Cherel Y (2011) Cephalopods in marine predator diet assessments: why identifying upper and lower beaks is important? ICES J Mar Sci 68(9):1857–1864

    Article  Google Scholar 

Further Reading on Responses to Climate Change

  • Anisimov OA, Vaughan DG, Callaghan TV, Furgal C, Marchant H, Prowse TD, Vilhjálmsson H, Walsh JE (2007) Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 653–685

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronson RB, Thatje S, Clarke A, Peck LS, Blake DB, Wilga CD, Seibel BA (2007) Climate change and invisibility of the Antarctic benthos. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 38:129–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbraud C, Weimerskirch H (2006) Antarctic birds breed later in response to climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci 103:6248–6251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brierley AS, Thomas DN (2002) Ecology of Southern Ocean pack ice. Adv Mar Biol 43:171–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croxall JP, Trathan PN, Murphy EJ (2002) Environmental change and Antarctic seabird populations. Science 297:1510–1514

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Curran MAJ, van Ommen TD, Morgan VI, Phillips KL, Palmer AS (2003) Science 302:1203–1206

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forcada J, Trathan PN (2009) Penguin responses to climate change in the Southern Ocean. Glob Chang Biol 15:1618–1630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forcada J, Trathan PN, Reid K, Murphy EJ, Croxall JP (2006) Contrasting population changes in sympatric penguin species in association with climate warming. Glob Chang Biol 12:411–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser MJ, Attrill MJ, Jennings S, Thomas DN, Barnes DKA, Brierley AS, Polunin NV, Raffaelli DG, Williams PJB (2005) Marine ecology. Processes, systems, and impacts. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 557

    Google Scholar 

  • Meredith MP, King JC (2005) Climate change in the ocean to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula during the second half of the 20th century. Geophys Res Lett 32:L19604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS (2005) Prospects for surviving climate change in Antarctic aquatic species. Front Zool 2:2–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck LS, Morley SA, Clark MS (2010b) Poor acclimation capacities in Antarctic marine ectotherms. Mar Biol 157:2051–2059

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid K, Croxall JP (2001) Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 268:377–384

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seebacher F, Davison W, Lowe CJ, Franklin CE (2005) The falsification of the thermal specialization paradigm: compensation for elevated temperatures in Antarctic fishes. Biol Lett 1:151–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine and Environmental Research Centre (MARE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José C. Xavier

  2. British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK

    Lloyd S. Peck

Authors
  1. José C. Xavier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lloyd S. Peck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José C. Xavier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gateway Antarctica University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

    Daniela Liggett

  2. Gateway Antarctica University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Bryan Storey

  3. School of Earth & Environmental Science James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Yvonne Cook

  4. Radio NZ House, Wellington, New Zealand

    Veronika Meduna

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Xavier, J.C., Peck, L.S. (2015). Life Beyond the Ice. In: Liggett, D., Storey, B., Cook, Y., Meduna, V. (eds) Exploring the Last Continent. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18947-5_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation