Retention of ice-associated amphipods: possible consequences for an ice-free Arctic Ocean
نویسندگان
چکیده
Recent studies predict that the Arctic Ocean will have ice-free summers within the next 30 years. This poses a significant challenge for the marine organisms associated with the Arctic sea ice, such as marine mammals and, not least, the ice-associated crustaceans generally considered to spend their entire life on the underside of the Arctic sea ice. Based upon unique samples collected within the Arctic Ocean during the polar night, we provide a new conceptual understanding of an intimate connection between these under-ice crustaceans and the deep Arctic Ocean currents. We suggest that downwards vertical migrations, followed by polewards transport in deep ocean currents, are an adaptive trait of ice fauna that both increases survival during ice-free periods of the year and enables re-colonization of sea ice when they ascend within the Arctic Ocean. From an evolutionary perspective, this may have been an adaptation allowing success in a seasonally ice-covered Arctic. Our findings may ultimately change the perception of ice fauna as a biota imminently threatened by the predicted disappearance of perennial sea ice.
منابع مشابه
Where to Forage in the Absence of Sea Ice? Bathymetry As a Key Factor for an Arctic Seabird
The earth is warming at an alarming rate, especially in the Arctic, where a marked decline in sea ice cover may have far-ranging consequences for endemic species. Little auks, endemic Arctic seabirds, are key bioindicators as they forage in the marginal ice zone and feed preferentially on lipid-rich Arctic copepods and ice-associated amphipods sensitive to the consequences of global warming. We...
متن کاملNonlinear threshold behavior during the loss of Arctic sea ice.
In light of the rapid recent retreat of Arctic sea ice, a number of studies have discussed the possibility of a critical threshold (or "tipping point") beyond which the ice-albedo feedback causes the ice cover to melt away in an irreversible process. The focus has typically been centered on the annual minimum (September) ice cover, which is often seen as particularly susceptible to destabilizat...
متن کاملDoes the Arctic sea ice have a tipping point?
[1] Two IPCC fourth assessment report climate models have Arctic Ocean simulations that become sea-ice-free year around in 1%/year CO2 increase to quadrupling experiments. These runs are examined for evidence of accelerated climate change associated with the removal of sea ice, particularly due to increasing surface albedo feedback. Both models become seasonally ice-free at an annual mean polar...
متن کاملWarming of the arctic ice-ocean system is faster than the global average since the 1960s
[1] Model results and observations both indicate warming of the world ocean from 1955 to 2003. Forced by reanalysis data, the model also shows that the warming of the arctic ice–ocean system is faster than the global average since the 1960s; there is a small but widespread increase in heat content of the Arctic Ocean’s waters and a larger increase of latent heat embodied in the ocean’s decreasi...
متن کاملOcean surface waves in an ice free Arctic Ocean
The retreating of Arctic ice edge implies that global ocean surface wave models have to be extended at high latitudes or even to cover the North Pole in the future. The obstacles for conventional latitude-longitude grid wave models to cover the whole Arctic are the polar problems associated with their Eulerian advection schemes, including the CFL restriction on diminishing grid-length towards t...
متن کامل