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Grazing and UV radiation effects on an Antarctic intertidal microalgal assemblage: a long-term field study

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Abstract

A 15 week field experiment (austral summer Nov–Mar) was carried out in an intertidal hard bottom platform in Antarctica (King George Island). To test whether grazing and ultraviolet radiation (UVR) influenced the succession of a benthic microalgal assemblage, a two-factorial design was used (1) ambient radiation, >280 nm; (2) ambient minus UV-B, >320 nm; (3) ambient minus UVR, >400 nm versus grazer–no grazer). On four sampling occasions microalgae were identified, counted and carbon contents were calculated. The assemblage was dominated by the diatom genera Navicula and Cocconeis. Biomass was generally low in all treatments but was significantly reduced by grazing throughout the experiment. No significant UV effects were found. Grazer absence particularly favoured diatoms of the genus Cocconeis. We conclude that the Antarctic microalgal assemblage was unaffected by present day UVR whereas grazers acted as important drivers on the intertidal microalgal community structure.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been done under the agreement on scientific cooperation between the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Dirección Nacional del Antárctico at Dallmann Laboratory, annex to Jubany station. The authors thank the German and the Argentine dive crews of Jubany and Dallmann for assistance in the field. Special thanks to Dr. A. Al-Handal for diatom identification. We gratefully acknowledge financial support by the foundations of YMER, KVVS, Lennander, Längmanska and Helge Ax:son Johnson, the Swedish Institute, the German Research Council (DFG), and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Katharina Zacher & Christian Wiencke

  2. Biozentrum Klein Flottbek, University of Hamburg, Ohnhorststr. 18, 22609, Hamburg, Germany

    Dieter Hanelt

  3. Department of Marine Ecology, Göteborg University, P.O. Box 461, 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden

    Angela Wulff

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  1. Katharina Zacher
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  2. Dieter Hanelt
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  3. Christian Wiencke
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  4. Angela Wulff
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Correspondence to Katharina Zacher.

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Zacher, K., Hanelt, D., Wiencke, C. et al. Grazing and UV radiation effects on an Antarctic intertidal microalgal assemblage: a long-term field study. Polar Biol 30, 1203–1212 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0278-y

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