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Arctic rhodolith beds and their environmental controls (Spitsbergen, Norway)

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Abstract

Coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) that form rhodoliths are important ecosystem engineers and carbonate producers in many polar coastal habitats. This study deals with rhodolith communities from Floskjeret (78°18′N), Krossfjorden (79°08′N), and Mosselbukta (79°53′N), off Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Strong seasonal variations in temperature, salinity, light regime, sea-ice coverage, and turbidity characterize these localities. The coralline algal flora consists of Lithothamnion glaciale and Phymatolithon tenue. Well-developed rhodoliths were recorded between 27 and 47 m water depth, while coralline algal encrustations on lithoclastic cobbles were detected down to 77 m water depth. At all sites, ambient waters were saturated with respect to both aragonite and calcite, and the rhodolith beds were located predominately at dysphotic water depths. The rhodolith-associated macrobenthic fauna included grazing organisms such as chitons and echinoids. With decreasing water depth, the rhodolith pavements were regularly overgrown by non-calcareous Polysiphonia-like red algae. The corallines are thriving and are highly specialized in their adaptations to the physical environment as well as in their interaction with the associated benthic fauna, which is similar to other polar rhodolith communities. The marine environment of Spitsbergen is already affected by a climate-driven ecological regime shift and will lead to an increased borealization in the near future, with presently unpredictable consequences for coralline red algal communities.

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Notes

  1. Phymatolithon tenue has incorrectly been associated with the name Leptophytum laeve, a heterotypic synonym of Phymatolithon lenormandii. Complex nomenclatural issues are involved. Düwel and Wegeberg (1996) concluded from a study of relevant type specimens and other material that P. tenue was a distinct species, that the designated epitype of L. laeve Adey (1966a) was conspecific with the type of P. lenormandii, and that Adey’s (1966a) concept of L. laeve was in full accord with P. tenue (see also Woelkerling et al. 2002). The holotype of L. laeve, a Strömfelt specimen originally described as L. laeve (Strömfelt 1886), was considered by Düwel and Wegeberg (1996) to be demonstrably ambiguous and not critically identifiable for purposes of the precise application of a name to a taxon, necessitating designation of an epitype. The interpretation (Athanasiadis 2007, p. 485) that P. tenue is a heterotypic synonym of L. laeve stems from the arguments (Adey et al. 2001) that the designated epitype and the holotype of L. laeve differ taxonomically and that the designated epitype is in serious conflict with the protologue. Based on these arguments, Athanasiadis and Adey (2003) proposed the formal conservation of the name L. laeve Strömfelt with a conserved type. The nomenclatural Committee for Algae (Compère 2004), however, concluded that the arguments mentioned above were not substantiated, and the proposal was unanimously rejected. The Committee for Algae (Prud'homme van Reine 2011) also noted that subsequent arguments (Athanasiadis and Adey 2006, p. 72; Athanasiadis 2007, p. 485) that the epitypification of Düwel and Wegeberg was “non-effective” involve incorrect, unacceptable interpretations of the International Code of Nomenclature. The above statement is reproduced with the permission of Prof. M.D. Guiry from AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org, searched on April 4, 2013.

  2. Figures 2–4 in Konar et al. (2006) clearly show that the Alaskan thalli belong to Lithothamnion, which is characterized by flared epithallial cells and subepithelial initials as long as or longer than subtending cells, and not Phymatolithon, which is characterized by rounded epithallial cells and subepithelial cells as short or shorter than subtending cells. The Alaskan thalli also have multiporate tetrasporangial conceptacles with protruding roofs and no surrounding rim, which is characteristic of some species of Lithothamnion. Phymatolithon calcareum, by contrast, has multiporate conceptacles in which the roofs are surrounded by a rim or are sunken below the surrounding thallus surface. Further comparisons and synoptic descriptions of Lithothamnion and Phymatolithon are found in Woelkerling (1988) and Harvey et al. (2003); Woelkerling and Irvine (1986) provide a detailed account of P. calcareum.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FR 1134/18). Mean water temperatures and salinities are based on data from LEVITUS 94, available from: http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.LEVITUS94/. Annual sea ice formation and breakup data are based on AMSR-E Sea Ice Maps, available from: http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/. Polar night duration data are based on USNO Sun Rise Tables, available from: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php. The authors would like to thank the captain and the crew of Maria S. Merian, the JAGO operating team (GEOMAR), Dirk Fleischer (Kiel) for helping with benthos sampling, and Ines Pyko for her work as research assistant. We thank both anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments that resulted in an improved manuscript.

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  1. A. Rüggeberg

    Present address: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Wischhofstraße 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Fachgruppe Paläoumwelt, Loewenichstraße 28, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    S. Teichert

  2. La Trobe University, Department of Botany, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    W. Woelkerling

  3. Ghent University, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    A. Rüggeberg

  4. Senckenberg am Meer, Marine Research Department, Südstrand 40, 26282, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    M. Wisshak & A. Freiwald

  5. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, c/o Institut für Polarökologie, Universität Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    D. Piepenburg

  6. GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Marine Biogeochemistry, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    M. Meyerhöfer & A. Form

  7. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    A. Freiwald

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Teichert, S., Woelkerling, W., Rüggeberg, A. et al. Arctic rhodolith beds and their environmental controls (Spitsbergen, Norway). Facies 60, 15–37 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-013-0372-2

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