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Melting ice reveals unknown species in Antarctica Global warming a bonanza for marine research mongabay.com February 26, 2007
"The breakup of these ice shelves opened up huge, near pristine portions of the ocean floor, sealed off from above for at least 5,000 years, and possibly up to 12,000 years in the case of Larsen B," said Julian Gutt, a marine ecologist at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and chief scientist on the Polarstern expedition.
"This knowledge of biodiversity is fundamental to understanding ecosystem functioning. The results of our efforts will advance our ability to predict the future of our biosphere in a changing environment," Gutt added. The expedition found evidence of rapid colonization of the newly exposed sea beds, discovering deep sea lilies, sea cucumbers and sea urchins thriving in the shallow waters of the Larsen zone. They also found dense patches of sea squirts and slow-growing animals known as glass sponges. In total, the scientists collected around 1000 species, some of which may be new to science. "It was surprising how fast such a new habitat was used and colonized by Minke whales in considerable densities," says specialist Dr. Meike Scheidat of Germany. "They indicate that the ecosystem in the water column changed considerably." "Predicting the future of higher levels in the food chain, e.g. animals living at the sea-floor or fish, is very difficult. It is for example clear that in the Larsen zone a major biodiversity shift will happen and the unique under-ice shelf system will disappear in this limited area, but we have to analyze carefully our raw data to provide, as a first step, a basis for such predictions. Besides modeling, further observations and ecological field studies are necessary." "This is virgin geography. If we don't find out what this area is like now following the collapse of the ice shelf, and what species are there, we won't have any basis to know in 20 years' time what has changed, and how global warming has altered the marine ecosystem," said Gauthier Chapelle, a biologist at the Brussels based International Polar Foundation. "The Southern Ocean spans 35 million square km — 10% of Earth's ocean surface, and ice shelves cover 1.5 million square km of it," added Tarik Chekchak, Program Manager of the Cousteau Society. "When Captain Cousteau explored Antarctica aboard the Calypso in 1972-73, the Larsen B ice shelf was 3,250 square km bigger and krill abundance in the Peninsula was much higher than today. The annual local temperature has risen 2.5 °C since the 1940's." "Impacts of these changes on the Southern Ocean ecosystem are substantial. Interplay between ocean circulation, sea ice extent, ice shelf cover and the iceberg's mechanical action on the sea bed seem to determine the characteristics of some key planktonic and benthic communities. In a changing environment, the results of the CAML efforts are key to advancing our ability to understand our biosphere, inform public debate and allow decision-makers to lead us into a more sustainable future," Chekchak concluded. This article is based on a news release from COML. Comments? News options
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