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First assessment of the rocky intertidal communities of Fildes Bay, King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica)

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Abstract

Studies on Antarctic intertidal fauna are comparatively scarce compared to those from the sublittoral and the deep sea. In order to contribute to filling this gap in knowledge, during the 2006 BENTART Spanish Antarctic Expedition, we conducted a quantitative and qualitative study on the fauna inhabiting the intertidal rocky platform of Fildes (=Maxwell) Bay, King George Island (South Shetlands Archipelago). This platform is dominated in its middle and lower area by the brown algae Adenocystis utricularis, which covers ca. 100 % of the rocky surface. Three quantitative samples of 20 × 20 cm were taken in the community of A. utricularis, and one additional sample of 20 × 20 cm in the tide pools community dominated by the gigartinacean rhodophyceae Iridaea cordata. In addition, qualitative samples of invertebrates that live under the boulders were also taken. Quantitative samples yielded a total of 9950 individuals belonging to 41 species. Mollusks were the most abundant group with a total of 9522 specimens belonging to 11 species, being the gastropod Eatoniella kerguelenensis regularis the most abundant with 6763 specimens. Crustaceans were represented by 295 specimens and 7 species and annelid polychaetes with 133 specimens and 20 taxa. The Shannon diversity indexes calculated for the quantitative samples of A. utricularis ranged between 0.803 and 1.030 with values of 1.577 for the I. cordata community. Our study confirms that the intertidal area of Fildes Bay hosts a surprisingly rich community in terms of abundance and biodiversity.

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Acknowledgments

First we want to thank Dr. Ana Ramos, PI leading the BENTART 06 Spanish Scientific Expedition, for allowing us to participate in that campaign. Jose Antonio Moya and Javier Cristobo helped, respectively, with the graphic documentation (video) and sampling in the field. David Domenech, director of the Chilean Antarctic Base Escudero, put at our disposal the wet laboratory for the aquaria and diving equipment. We also thank all the members of the Escudero Base for the help provided in our work as well as the kind hospitality and pleasant company outside of working hours. Katrin Linse, Flavio Passos, Cristian Aldea and Jesus Souza Troncoso helped us in the identification of some species of mollusks, Antonio Jimeno identified the amphipods, Blanca Figuerola the bryozoans, Neus Campanyà the starfishes and Miquel Vila the flatworms. Finally, Amelia Gomez and Mª Antonia Ribera checked our identification of the algae. We also thank Miquel Pontes for his help with graphics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal, 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Ahmed Aghmich, Sergi Taboada, Lluis Toll & Manuel Ballesteros

Authors
  1. Ahmed Aghmich
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  2. Sergi Taboada
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  3. Lluis Toll
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  4. Manuel Ballesteros
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuel Ballesteros.

Additional information

This article is an invited contribution on Life in Antarctica: Boundaries and Gradients in a Changing Environment as the main theme of the XIth SCAR Biology Symposium. J.-M. Gili and R. Zapata Guardiola (Guest Editors).

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Fig. 1

Main organisms sampled. a. Obrimoposthia wandeli (Hallez, 1906) b. Antarctonemertes riesgoae Taboada, Junoy, Andrade, Giribet, Cristobo & Avila, 2013 c. Ovigerous capsules of Antarctonemertes valida (Bürger, 1893) d. Mysella subquadrata (Pelseneer, 1903) e. Nacella polaris (Hombron & Jaquinot, 1841) f. Eatoniella kerguelenensis regularis (E.A.Smith, 1915) g. Bovallia gigantea Pfeffer, 1888 h. Inversiula nutrix Jullien, 1888 i. Granaster nutrix (Studer, 1885) (left), Adelasterias papillosa (Koeler, 1906) (right) j. Harpagifer antarcticus Nybelin, 1947 (TIFF 81845 kb)

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Aghmich, A., Taboada, S., Toll, L. et al. First assessment of the rocky intertidal communities of Fildes Bay, King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). Polar Biol 39, 189–198 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1814-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1814-9

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