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Biogeochemistry and microbial community composition in sea ice and underlying seawater off East Antarctica during early spring

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Abstract

Pack ice, brines and seawaters were sampled in October 2003 in the East Antarctic sector to investigate the structure of the microbial communities (algae, bacteria and protozoa) in relation to the associated physico-chemical conditions (ice structure, temperature, salinity, inorganic nutrients, chlorophyll a and organic matter). Ice cover ranged between 0.3 and 0.8 m, composed of granular and columnar ice. The brine volume fractions sharply increased above −4°C in the bottom ice, coinciding with an important increase of algal biomass (up to 3.9 mg C l−1), suggesting a control of the algae growth by the space availability at that period of time. Large accumulation of NH4 + and PO4 3− was observed in the bottom ice. The high pool of organic matter, especially of transparent exopolymeric particles, likely led to nutrients retention and limitation of the protozoa grazing pressure, inducing therefore an algal accumulation. In contrast, the heterotrophs dominated in the underlying seawaters.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Australian Antarctic Division, especially Ian Allison (Expedition Leader) and Rob Massom (Chief Scientist), for their invitation to participate in the “ARISE in the East” endeavor. We are also grateful to the captain and crew of the RV Aurora Australis for their logistic assistance throughout the duration of the cruise. Special thanks are due to Anne Trevena for her great help in organizing the cruise, ice core subsampling and salinity measurements. The support from Bruno Delille for field assistance is greatly acknowledged. This work was funded by the Belgian French Community (ARC contract no. 2/07-287) and by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (contracts SD/CA/03A&B). This is also a contribution to the European Network of Excellence EUR-OCEANS (contract no. 511106-2) and Integrated Project CarboOcean (contract no. 511176-2). The present study is a Belgian input to the SOLAS international research initiative. I. Dumont benefits from a FRIA (Fonds pour la Recherche en Industries Agronomiques) PhD grant.

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  1. D. Lannuzel

    Present address: Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 80, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecologie des Systèmes Aquatiques, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, CP221, Bd du Triomphe, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    S. Becquevort, I. Dumont & V. Schoemann

  2. Unité de Glaciologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 160/03, 50 Av. F. D. Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    J.-L. Tison

  3. Laboratoire d’Océanographie Chimique et Géochimie des Eaux, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine CP 208, Bd. du Triomphe, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    D. Lannuzel, M.-L. Sauvée & L. Chou

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Becquevort, S., Dumont, I., Tison, JL. et al. Biogeochemistry and microbial community composition in sea ice and underlying seawater off East Antarctica during early spring. Polar Biol 32, 879–895 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0589-2

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