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Recruitment of Antarctic marine eukaryotes onto artificial surfaces

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Abstract

Activities related to Antarctic research stations have caused significant local impacts on the marine environment, potentially affecting the recruitment of benthic invertebrates. Herein, we report the community structure of recruiting marine eukaryotes onto artificial substrata using molecular techniques. Slides were deployed at three sites adjacent to McMurdo Station, Scott Base, and Cape Armitage in McMurdo Sound. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed complex and diverse eukaryotic communities had established on artificial surfaces deployed at a range of site and depth regimes after 12 months. Analysis of similarity results detected significantly greater variability in community profiles among sites than within sites. The nonmetric multidimensional scaling plot constructed from DGGE banding patterns revealed different benthic communities had established at 12 and 18 m depths. Despite this, the variation in community composition was greater among sites than between depths, especially at Cape Armitage and Scott Base. Sequence analysis of excised DGGE bands revealed a predominance of arthropod and dinoflagellate sequences at Cape Armitage. In contrast, a wide diversity of phyla including cnidaria, bryozoa, protozoa, dinoflagellates, arthropods, platyhelminths, and annelids were present adjacent to the two research stations. The abundance of diatoms detected in Cape Armitage benthic assemblages exceeded the abundance of diatoms from McMurdo Station and Scott Base by almost two orders of magnitude. The discovery that distinct eukaryotic communities recruit at different sites and depths is probably due to complex interactions between multiple factors including water quality, larval supply, and light. The detection of sessile phyla on slides at each of the sites indicates that the pollution profiles present at each site is not an impediment to successful recruitment of these species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank S. Delean for assistance with statistical analysis and W. Mclean, C. Wolff, and J. Monkivitch for field assistance. This research was supported by Antarctica New Zealand, University of Canterbury, and a NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology Postdoctoral Scholarship. We are also indebted to all of the scientific support staff at Scott Base and McMurdo Station during 2001/2002. All experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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  1. Nicole S. Webster

    Present address: PMB No. 3 Townsville Mail Centre, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Sciences Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Nicole S. Webster

  2. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    Nicole S. Webster, Christopher N. Battershill & Andrew P. Negri

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  1. Nicole S. Webster
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Correspondence to Nicole S. Webster.

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Webster, N.S., Battershill, C.N. & Negri, A.P. Recruitment of Antarctic marine eukaryotes onto artificial surfaces. Polar Biol 30, 1–10 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0153-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0153-2

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