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Antarctic Marine Animal Forests: Three-Dimensional Communities in Southern Ocean Ecosystems

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Marine Animal Forests

Abstract

Both Southern Ocean and terrestrial systems contain three-dimensional biotic components that are key in shaping and defining their respective ecosystems and communities. Antarctic suspension-feeding communities, which inhabit the shelf of the Southern Ocean, resemble “Terrestrial Vegetation Forests” (TVF) or shrublands and support the concept of “Antarctic Marine Animal Forests” (AMAF). They comprise mostly sessile animals, provide microniches for an associated mobile fauna, and are fragmented and regionally mixed with other communities. On land, only high mountains and very dry regions are unsuitable for TVF, analogous to the virtual absence of AMAF from the deep sea (>1000 m). Besides fundamental differences between these systems in energy flow and other ecological drivers such as light requirements and dispersal opportunities, both “forests” experience similar disturbances, which impact ecosystem dynamics and diversity in similar ways. While land use affects and reduces terrestrial forests, climate change and fishing impacts are the most serious threats to the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Research priorities for a better understanding of “Antarctic Marine Animal Forests” demand (1) mapping biotic communities and their structural and functional diversity, especially in terms of hot and cold spots; (2) understanding ecological function, including ecosystem productivity and dynamics; (3) cross-system comparison to identify generality or uniqueness in ecosystem structure and dynamics; and (4) implication of existing and new research approaches and conservation strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Julian Gutt

  2. NIWA, 301 Evans Bay Parade, Private Bag 14901, 6021, Hataitai, Wellington, New Zealand

    Vonda Cummings

  3. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Paul K. Dayton

  4. Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Enrique Isla

  5. Disturbance Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Anke Jentsch

  6. Di.S.T.A.V., Università di Genova, C.so Europa 26, I-16132, Genova, Italy

    Stefano Schiaparelli

  7. Italian National Antarctic Museum (Section of Genoa), Viale Benedetto XV, 5, I-16132, Genova, Italy

    Stefano Schiaparelli

Authors
  1. Julian Gutt
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  2. Vonda Cummings
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  3. Paul K. Dayton
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  4. Enrique Isla
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  5. Anke Jentsch
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  6. Stefano Schiaparelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julian Gutt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Sergio Rossi

  2. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques (LECOB) Observatoire Océanologique, Banyuls/Mer, France

    Lorenzo Bramanti

  3. Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Andrea Gori

  4. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Palma, Mallorca, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas

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Gutt, J., Cummings, V., Dayton, P.K., Isla, E., Jentsch, A., Schiaparelli, S. (2017). Antarctic Marine Animal Forests: Three-Dimensional Communities in Southern Ocean Ecosystems. In: Rossi, S., Bramanti, L., Gori, A., Orejas , C. (eds) Marine Animal Forests. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21012-4_8

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