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Brackish meltponds on Arctic sea ice—a new habitat for marine metazoans

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Abstract

Meltponds on Arctic sea ice have previously been reported to be devoid of marine metazoans due to fresh-water conditions. The predominantly dark frequently also green and brownish meltponds observed in the Central Arctic in summer 2007 hinted to brackish conditions and considerable amounts of algae, possibly making the habitat suitable for marine metazoans. Environmental conditions in meltponds as well as sympagic meiofauna in new ice covering pond surfaces and in rotten ice on the bottom of ponds were studied, applying modified techniques from sea-ice and under-ice research. Due to the very porous structure of the rotten ice, the meltponds were usually brackish to saline, providing living conditions very similar to sub-ice water. The new ice cover on the surface had similar characteristics as the bottom layer of level ice. The ponds were thus accessible to and inhabitable by metazoans. The new ice cover and the rotten ice were inhabited by various sympagic meiofauna taxa, predominantly ciliates, rotifers, acoels, nematodes and foraminiferans. Also, sympagic amphipods were found on the bottom of meltponds. We suggest that, in consequence of global warming, brackish and saline meltponds are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, providing a new habitat to marine metazoans.

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Acknowledgments

We first of all thank Iris Werner (Institute for Polar Ecology, Kiel, Germany) for her constant support and helpful advice on the manuscript. We thank everybody who participated in sea-ice observations and helped collecting and preparing samples during the ARK–XXII/2 cruise, particularly Stefan Siebert (Brown University, Providence, USA) and Alice Schneider (Institute for Polar Ecology). The assistance of captain and crew of RV Polarstern and the support of the chief scientist Ursula Schauer (Alfred-Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany) during ARK–XXII/2 are gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to various sea-ice physics and modelling colleagues for fruitful discussions about possible changes in meltpond properties during the IGS 2010 conference. The constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. This research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft WE 2536/11–1,–2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Polar Ecology (IPÖ), Wischhofstr. 1–3, Geb. 12, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Maike Kramer

  2. Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR), Biological Oceanography, Hohenbergstr. 2, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Rainer Kiko

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  1. Maike Kramer
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  2. Rainer Kiko
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Correspondence to Maike Kramer.

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Kramer, M., Kiko, R. Brackish meltponds on Arctic sea ice—a new habitat for marine metazoans. Polar Biol 34, 603–608 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0911-z

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