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Missing link in the Southern Ocean: sampling the marine benthic fauna of remote Bouvet Island

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Abstract

Bouvet (Bouvetøya) is a geologically young and very remote island just south of the Polar Front. Here we report samples taken during the RV “Polarstern" cruise ANTXXI/2 on 3 days in November 2003 and January 2004. This work was part of SCAR’s EASIZ programme and intended, by providing data on the marine fauna of this “white gap" in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, to contribute to identifying the role of Bouvet in the faunal exchange between the Sub- and high Antarctic. While this goal demands extensive molecular analysis of the material sampled (future work), a checklist of the samples and data at hand widens the faunal and environmental inventory substantially. We suggest some preliminary conclusions on the relationship of Bouvet Island’s fauna with that of other regions, such as Magellanic South America, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the high Antarctic Weddell Sea, which have been sampled previously. There seem to be different connections for individual higher taxa rather than a generally valid consistent picture.

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Acknowledgements

The participants of RV “Polarstern" cruise ANT XXI/2 would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Norwegian Government for granting permission to study the fauna in the Bouvet region. Our thanks go to the Master of RV “Polarstern”, Udo Domke, and his crew for competent and friendly assistance on board. The valuable help of Harald Bohlmann with the CTD management is gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank Pilar Ríos (Univ. of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) for helping in the Porifera identification. The map was provided by H. Griffiths (BAS). The useful comments by three anonymous reviewers are greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, P.O. Box 120-161, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Wolf E. Arntz, Julian Gutt & Américo Montiel

  2. National Oceanography Centre, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK

    Sven Thatje

  3. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    Katrin Linse, David K. A. Barnes & Thérèse Cope

  4. Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes CEAB-CSIC, c/ Accés a la cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Catalunya, Spain

    Conxita Avila

  5. Dept. Biología Animal, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Manuel Ballesteros

  6. Estación de Bioloxía Mariña da Graña, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa da Ribeira 1, 15590 A Graña, Ferrol, Galicia, Spain

    Francisco J. Cristobo

  7. Dept. des Invertébrés (Carcinologie), Institut royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Rue Vautier 29, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Claude de Broyer

  8. Institut de Ciències del Mar, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Enrique Isla, Estefanía Rodríguez & Núria Teixidó

  9. Dpto. Fisiología y Zoología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Reina Mercedes 6, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    Pablo López-González & Estefanía Rodríguez

  10. Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidat Autónoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Tomás Munilla

  11. Dpto. Ciencias del Mar y Biología Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Campus de Sant Vicent del Raspeig, 03080, Alicante, Spain

    Alfonso A. Ramos Esplá

  12. Lehrstuhl für Spezielle Zoologie, ND 05/577, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Michael Raupach

  13. Bruno-H.-Bürgel-Allee 31, 15732, Eichwalde, Germany

    Martin Rauschert

Authors
  1. Wolf E. Arntz
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  2. Sven Thatje
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  3. Katrin Linse
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  4. Conxita Avila
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  5. Manuel Ballesteros
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  6. David K. A. Barnes
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  7. Thérèse Cope
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  8. Francisco J. Cristobo
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  9. Claude de Broyer
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  10. Julian Gutt
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  11. Enrique Isla
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  12. Pablo López-González
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  13. Américo Montiel
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  14. Tomás Munilla
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  15. Alfonso A. Ramos Esplá
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  16. Michael Raupach
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  17. Martin Rauschert
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  18. Estefanía Rodríguez
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  19. Núria Teixidó
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Correspondence to Sven Thatje.

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Arntz, W.E., Thatje, S., Linse, K. et al. Missing link in the Southern Ocean: sampling the marine benthic fauna of remote Bouvet Island. Polar Biol 29, 83–96 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0047-8

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