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Towards the trophic structure of the Bouvet Island marine ecosystem

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Abstract

Although Bouvet Island is of considerable importance for Southern Ocean species conservation, information on the marine community species inventory and trophic functioning is scarce. Our combined study of stable isotopes and feeding relationships shows that (1) the marine system conforms to the trophic pattern described for other Antarctic systems within the Antarctic circumpolar current (ACC); (2) both the benthic and the pelagic subsystem are almost exclusively linked via suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM); and (3) there is no evidence of a subsystem driven by macroalgae. Bouvet Island can therefore be characterized as a benthic “oasis” within a self-sustaining open ocean pelagic system.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to a large number of colleagues who contributed to the wealth of information on the ecology of Bouvet Island and similar Antarctic sites. We thank Prof. Greg Rau (Atmospheric Science Division, Livermore, USA) for the generous data contribution to our data set. We are grateful to Prof. Andrew Clarke (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge) and two anonymous referees for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, PO Box 120161, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    U. Jacob, T. Brey, K. Mintenbeck, K. Beyer & W.E. Arntz

  2. Southern Ocean Group, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    S. Kaehler

  3. Marine Science Institute, University of Texas, 750 Channelview Drive Port, Austin, TX, 78373-5015, USA

    K. Dunton

  4. GeoBio-Center at Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, 80333, München, Germany

    U. Struck

  5. Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    I. Fetzer

  6. Zoology Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa

    E.A. Pakhomov

  7. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Stores Road, Stores Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    E.A. Pakhomov

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  1. U. Jacob
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  2. T. Brey
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  10. W.E. Arntz
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Correspondence to U. Jacob.

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Jacob, U., Brey, T., Fetzer, I. et al. Towards the trophic structure of the Bouvet Island marine ecosystem. Polar Biol 29, 106–113 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0071-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0071-8

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