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Spatial distribution of planktonic ciliates in waters around the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Plateau

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Abstract

The Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent region is one of the planet’s fastest warming areas and has experienced remarkable environmental change. Planktonic ciliates are sensitive to environmental change because of their short lifespans and limited mobility. However, not much research has been done on the distribution of planktonic ciliates and their relation to environmental factors in waters around the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Plateau. Here, we investigated planktonic ciliate distribution in different areas of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Plateau region during 26 December 2015 and 11 January 2016. Tintinnids made up less than 10% and 15% of total planktonic ciliate abundance and biomass, respectively. Aloricate ciliates and tintinnids showed different vertical profiles, indicating their different responses to environmental change. In the Bransfield Strait, tintinnids mainly occurred in the south side of the strait. In the South Orkney Plateau with well-stratified water column, Laackmanniella naviculaefera occurred in the surface 0–25-m Summer Surface Water (SSW), while Cymatocylis cf. cristallina occurred in the 50–150-m Winter Water. Along a transect between the Central Basin and Eastern Basin, warmer Antarctic Circumpolar Current waters intruded southward and overlay the SSW of the Weddell Sea confluence. Consequently, L. naviculaefera was suppressed into deeper water than in the South Orkney Plateau. This study showed that the characteristic hydrography of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Plateau shaped the distribution patterns of planktonic ciliates. Our results are helpful for understanding the future dynamics of pelagic ecosystems in this rapidly changing area.

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Data availability

Data of planktonic ciliates used in this study are available in Online Resource 2.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Polar Special Program “Impact and Response of Antarctic Seas to Climate” (IRASCC 01-02-01D) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41706192). This work was also supported by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China. We thank the 32nd CHINARE Antarctic expedition for providing logistical support and environmental data. We thank the crew on the R/V “XUELONG” for their support and assistance during sampling. We thank Natalie Kim, PhD, from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn/), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Rd, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Haibo Li, Guang Yang, Chaofeng Wang & Wuchang Zhang

  2. Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Haibo Li, Guang Yang, Chaofeng Wang & Wuchang Zhang

  3. Center for Ocean Mega‑Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Haibo Li, Guang Yang, Chaofeng Wang & Wuchang Zhang

  4. Fujian Key Laboratory on Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Marine Biodiversity, Fuzhou Institute of Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou, 350108, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Liang

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Contributions

HL: Sampling Counting, Data Curation, Writing-Original Draft. CL: Investigation, Sampling Counting, Data Curation. GY: Investigation. CW: Data Curation. WZ: Conceptualization, Supervision, Project administration, Reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Wuchang Zhang.

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Li, H., Liang, C., Yang, G. et al. Spatial distribution of planktonic ciliates in waters around the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Plateau. Polar Biol 46, 623–637 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03152-6

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