July 10, 2008 -- From the tiny phytoplankton living under the ice to the penguins at the top of the food chain, the ecosystem of the Antarctic Peninsula is changing fast, driven by warming waters and a loss of sea ice.
Three researchers who have spent decades studying Antarctica's denizens paint a picture of interconnected changes at the bottom of the Earth that are changing the ecology over just decades after some 30 million years of relative isolation.
Read Jessica Marshall's blog about the Antarctic Peninsula and weigh in.
"The changes are profound," said Hugh Ducklow of the Marine Biological Research Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
He and colleagues James McClintock of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and William Fraser of Polar Oceans Research Group in Sheridan, Mont. compiled their findings from studying different aspects of the Antarctic ecosystem in an article in the current issue of American Scientist.
Nowhere on Earth is climate change happening faster than on the neck of land stretching north from the Antarctic continent more than 900 miles toward South America. The average midwinter temperature on the Antarctic peninsula has increased more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950, five times the global average.
The changes the researchers see begin at the base of the food web, with phytoplankton -- tiny photosynthetic organisms that, in Antarctica, are evolved to live in the sea ice. As the extent of sea ice has decreased, so has the amount of phytoplankton.
"Sea ice is not just ice," Ducklow said. "It's a habitat for organisms."
Indeed, juvenile krill, tiny shrimplike organisms that serve as the main food source for Adélie penguins and baleen whales, graze on the phytoplankton under the sea ice.
"Juvenile forms of krill are not as strong swimmers as adults," Ducknow said "By congregating on the underside of the ice, they get a shelter from predators, and it's where the food is."
Krill have been declining for decades, the authors note, although sea ice decline may not be the only reason.
With less krill to feed on, organisms at the top of the food chain like Adélie penguins suffer. Their populations have been decreasing in the central and northern Antarctic peninsula.
The Adelie penguins also rely on the sea ice directly. In winter, they use the sea ice to get out to hotspots of food. As this shrinks, their food will be too far away to swim to.
In contrast, two related species, the gentoo and chinstrap penguins, do not rely on sea ice for winter feeding. Their populations are rising on the Peninsula.
Meanwhile, another Antarctic community is poised to change because of rising sea temperatures.
Since the Antarctic Peninsula separated from South America 25 to 35 million years ago, Antarctica has been encircled by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a clockwise roundabout current that holds cold water near the continent and isolates it from the rest of the ocean.
Crabs and other predators that get prey by cracking shells with strong forces were excluded from the region once the current was established, because they cannot survive at such cold temperatures.
Without such predators to guard against, animals like snails and clams in Antarctica evolved delicate, thin shells. But as the ocean warms, crab predators may move in and have defenseless prey to capitalize on. A colony of king crabs was recently found in deeper waters off the peninsula.
"It's only a matter of time before they can move up into even shallower water," said lead author McClintock, who studies Antarctica's invertebrates. "When crabs get into those communities of clams and snails and brachiopods, they are going to be history."
McClintock notes that the reproductive cycle of invertebrates is also closely tied to temperature, and warming may lead to larvae hatching out of sync with the availability of their plankton food supply.
But, he adds, kelp-like macroalgae are likely to thrive with the greater availability of sunlight thanks to reduced sea ice. And jellyfish will probably also increase in number.
What is clear is that these populations are shifting fast in relation to one another, and the ecosystem that emerges will be different from the one that has existed in isolation for millions of years.
"People say, why Antarctica? Who cares about that?" Ducklow said. "It's a canary in the coal mine. We're seeing things happen rapidly there. It's a good wakeup call for us that there is climate change, and ecosystems really are responding to it."
Related Links:
Jessica Marshall's blog: EnvironMental Case
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