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Deregibus D, Campana GL, Neder C, Barnes DKA, Zacher K, Piscicelli JM, Jerosch K, Quartino ML. Potential macroalgal expansion and blue carbon gains with northern Antarctic Peninsula glacial retreat. MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 189:106056. [PMID: 37385084 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of physical climate change, especially glacial retreat, particularly in its northern South Shetland Islands (SSI) region. Along coastlines, this process is opening up new ice-free areas, for colonization by a high biodiversity of flora and fauna. At Potter Cove, in the SSI (Isla 25 de Mayo/King George Island), Antarctica, colonization by macroalgae was studied in two newly ice-free areas, a low glacier influence area (LGI), and a high glacier influence area (HGI) differing in the presence of sediment run-off and light penetration, which are driven by levels of glacial influence. We installed artificial substrates (tiles) at 5 m depth to analyze benthic algal colonization and succession for four years (2010-2014). Photosynthetic active radiation (PAR, 400-700 nm), temperature, salinity, and turbidity were monitored at both sites in spring and summer. The turbidity and the light attenuation (Kd) were significantly lower at LGI than at HGI. All tiles were colonized by benthic algae, differing in species identity and successional patterns between areas, and with a significantly higher richness at LGI than HGI in the last year of the experiment. We scaled up a quadrat survey on the natural substrate to estimate benthic algal colonization in newly deglaciated areas across Potter Cove. Warming in recent decades has exposed much new habitat, with macroalgae making up an important part of colonist communities 'chasing' such glacier retreat. Our estimation of algal colonization in newly ice-free areas shows an expansion of ∼0.005-0.012 km2 with a carbon standing stock of ∼0.2-0.4 C tons, per year. Life moving into new space in such emerging fjords has the potential to be key for new carbon sinks and export. In sustained climate change scenarios, we expect that the processes of colonization and expansion of benthic assemblages will continue and generate significant transformations in Antarctic coastal ecosystems by increasing primary production, providing new structures, food and refuge to fauna, and capturing and storing more carbon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dolores Deregibus
- Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Gabriela L Campana
- Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Camila Neder
- Ecosistemas Marinos y Polares, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina; Ecología Marina, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina; Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | | | - Katharina Zacher
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Juan Manuel Piscicelli
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Estación Hidrobiológica Puerto Quequén. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'B. Rivadavia', Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Kerstin Jerosch
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - María Liliana Quartino
- Departamento de Biología Costera, Instituto Antártico Argentino, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'B. Rivadavia', Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Capozzi SL, Francisco KL, Stahl BL, Al Hello M, Meixler MS, Rodenburg LA. Sources of polychlorinated biphenyls to Upper Hudson River fish post-dredging. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 310:136742. [PMID: 36209856 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals that are the dominant contaminant in the Upper Hudson River (UHR) in New York State where two General Electric (GE) plants historically discharged PCBs to the river. Portions of the UHR were dredged from 2009 to 2015 to address PCB contamination. In 2017, the first post-dredging survey of yearling feeder fish and sediment PCB contamination was conducted to establish a baseline for the recovery of the river. Prior analysis of the sediment data from the 2017 survey indicated that ∼2% of the PCBs in the surface sediment were higher in molecular weight than the formulation used by GE and therefore arose from non-GE sources. In this work, the fish PCB data from the 2017 survey were analyzed using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) was used to estimate PCB concentrations in the sediment at the locations where fish were collected. The results suggest that PCBs that are the products of microbial dechlorination bioaccumulate in the fish and represent 7% of the PCB mass in the fish data set. Further, the results suggest that about 13% of the PCBs in the fish may have come from non-GE sources. This is higher than the percentage of non-GE PCBs in the sediment, but can be explained by the higher molecular weight of the non-GE mixture which causes it to bioaccumulate more effectively than GE PCBs. Concentrations of the non-GE PCBs averaged about 240 ppb wet weight (whole body) in yearling feeder fish. The remedial goals range from 50 to 400 ppb ww in fillet for fish including piscivorous species that are likely to have higher PCB concentrations than feeder fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Staci L Capozzi
- Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 40705, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA
| | - Kelly L Francisco
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA
| | - Briana L Stahl
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
| | - Mohson Al Hello
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA; Marine Science Center, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
| | - Marcia S Meixler
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA
| | - Lisa A Rodenburg
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA.
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Torre L, Alurralde G, Lagger C, Abele D, Schloss IR, Sahade R. Antarctic ascidians under increasing sedimentation: Physiological thresholds and ecosystem hysteresis. MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2021; 167:105284. [PMID: 33730611 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2021.105284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Glacier melting sediment inputs affect coastal ecosystems on the Antarctic Peninsula. In Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica), the shift from an "ascidian dominated" to a "mixed" assemblage has been linked to sedimentation. However, in recently described newly ice-free areas ascidians became dominant in spite of total suspended particulate matter (TSPM) concentrations, which are the highest measured in Potter Cove. Here, we compared the gut content and energy reserve of three ascidian species at three stations under different TSPM regimes. All analysed species had a higher gut content with lower %OM at these newly areas. A theoretical relationship between the scope for growth for the targeted ascidians and TSPM explained assemblages' recorded change but failed to explain current ascidians distribution. The results may indicate the existence of a TSPM threshold that allows the spatial coexistence of alternative stable states at benthic Potter Cove system.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Torre
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Córdoba, Argentina.
| | - G Alurralde
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - C Lagger
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - D Abele
- Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - I R Schloss
- Instituto Antártico Argentino, San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, Ushuaia, Argentina; Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Argentina
| | - R Sahade
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Córdoba, Argentina.
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