Cascading effects of global climate change on near shore benthic communities in the Antarctic

Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Unknown

Publication_Date: Unknown

Title: Cascading effects of global climate change on near shore benthic communities in the Antarctic

Description:

Abstract:

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2300 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project---- Antarctic reefs, like their tropical counterparts, harbour a high diversity of animal life. For the first time we will determine how global warming will affect food availability to the animals which comprise the structural components of the reefs. Ultimately, we wish to predict the cascading effect through the community as one component changes. With the confirmation that sponges in Antarctic waters graze on ultraplankton there is now a global overview that sponges are the primary benthic organism that is responsible for linking the pelagic microbial food web to the benthos. Like other shallow water demosponges, sponges in Antarcticia are omnivorous sponges that graze nonselectively, consuming both heterotrophic and phototrophic organisms. Retention efficiencies of ultraplankton are similar to other sponges measured using similar techniques from shallow water to the deep sea, the tropics to boreal waters. The large amounts of water processed by these benthic suspension feeders and their diet places these sponges squarely within the functional group of organisms that link the pelagic microbial food web to the benthos. The number of macroinvertebrates that have been shown to side- step the microbial loop and directly utilize the base of the microbial food web as a primary food source is ever growing and currently includes demosponges, ascidians, soft corals, and bivalves. Dense macroinvertebrate communities dominated by demosponges and corals in shallow water have been shown to remove as much as 90% of the ultraplankton from the water that passes over them. The daily fluxes of ultraplankton to these communities ranges from 9 to 1970 mg C day-1 m-2. We conservatively estimate that this single species of sponge, which comprises only a portion of the benthos, mediates a flux of 444 mg mg C day-1 m-2 from the water column, which places it in the range of shallow-water temperate and boreal systems. Furthermore, we found that physical disturbance results in changes in community structure. The subtidal rocky coasts near Casey are similar to many of the exposed rocky coasts of the world that support extensive stands of macroalgae that form a strong positive association with understorey encrusting coralline algae. Loss of canopies of algae on temperate coasts often triggers large and predictable changes to the assemblage of understorey taxa. We observed large negative effects of removing canopies of H. grandifolius on encrusting corallines growing beneath, with such effects consistent with predictions of previous research on tropical and temperate coasts. However, elevating concentrations of nutrients did not greatly reduce the magnitude of the negative effects of canopy removal. Nevertheless, our results suggest that disturbance (removal) to canopies of H. grandifolius has large consequences for those organisms associated with this widely distributed (circumpolar) species of canopy-forming algae. See the full copy of the final report (available for download from the URL given below) for more information. Also included in the download file, are five Excel spreadsheets. The spreadsheets contain the data collected from the transects, quadrats, etc (see the final report for more information). Where possible the spreadsheets have been converted to csv files. The fields in this dataset are: Location depth Species Transect Quadrat Irradiance PAR

Purpose:

Not Available

Supplemental_Information:

REFERENCE: Irving, A. D., S. D. Connell, E. L. Johnston, A. J. Pile, B. M. Gillanders. 2005 The response of encrusting coralline algae to canopy loss: an independent test of predictions on an Antarctic coast. Marine Biology 144 361-368

Supplemental_Information:

REFERENCE: Pile, AJ, EL Johnston, SD Connell and BM Gillanders. December 2005 Benthic-pelagic coupling of the microbial food web by Antarctic sponges Targeted for Marine Ecology Progress Series

Supplemental_Information:

REFERENCE: Johnston EL, SD Connell, AD Irving, AJ Pile and BM Gillanders December 2005 Characterising shallow rocky-reef assemblages from the Windmill Islands coast, East Antarctica Targeted for Polar Biology

Supplemental_Information:

REFERENCE: Connell, SD, EL Johnston, AD Irving, TE Wernberg, BM Gillanders, BD Russell, AJ Pile May 2006 How do the understorey assemblages at the Windmill Islands of Antarctica compare to those in Australia? Targeted for Polar Biology

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 20030930

Ending_Date: 20050331

Currentness_Reference:Unknown

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: As needed

Spatial_Domain:

Description_of_Geographic_Extent:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: 62.0

East_Bounding_Coordinate: 110.0

North_Bounding_Coordinate: -65.0

South_Bounding_Coordinate: -68.0

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD SCIENCE PARAMETERS

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD PLATFORM

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD INSTRUMENT

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ANCILLARY KEYWORDS

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO TOPIC CATEGORY

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: DATA SET LANGUAGE

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > SPONGES

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > PLANTS > MICROALGAE

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > PLANTS > MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS)

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > ZOOPLANKTON

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > PHYTOPLANKTON

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC HABITAT

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > SPECIES PREDATION

Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > GRAZING DYNAMICS/PLANT HERBIVORY

Theme_Keyword: FIELD SURVEYS

Theme_Keyword: FIELD INVESTIGATION

Theme_Keyword: THERMISTORS

Theme_Keyword: FLOW CYTOMETRY

Theme_Keyword: Antarctica

Theme_Keyword: Benthic Communities

Theme_Keyword: Climate Change

Theme_Keyword: Sponges

Theme_Keyword: Coralline

Theme_Keyword: Ultraplankton

Theme_Keyword: Quadrats

Theme_Keyword: Transects

Theme_Keyword: BIOTA

Theme_Keyword: OCEANS

Theme_Keyword: ENGLISH

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD

Place_Keyword: CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

Place_Keyword: GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Access_Constraints: These data and a copy of the final report are available for download from the URL given below.

Use_Constraints:

This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at the URL below when using these data.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: ADELE PILE

Contact_Position: INVESTIGATOR

Contact_Position: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Contact_Position: DIF AUTHOR

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: School Of Biological Sciences

Address: University of Sydney

Address: RM 202A HAYDON-LAURENCE BLDG A08

City: Sydney

State_or_Province: New South Wales

Postal_Code: 2006

Country: Australia

Contact_Voice_Telephone: +61 2 9351 2440

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: +61 2 9351 2558

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: apile@bio.usyd.edu.au

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

Values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only. This record has been updated by staff at the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (rather than the listed investigator), and therefore it's accuracy and quality cannot be guaranteed. See the final report at the URL below for full and accurate information.

Logical_Consistency_Report:

Not Available

Completeness_Report:

Not Available

Lineage:

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Not Available

Process_Date: Unknown

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia

Contact_Person: DATA OFFICER AADC

Contact_Position: DATA CENTER CONTACT

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: Australian Antarctic Division

Address: 203 Channel Highway

City: Kingston

State_or_Province: Tasmania

Postal_Code: 7050

Country: Australia

Contact_Voice_Telephone: +61 3 6232 3244

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: +61 3 6232 3351

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: metadata@aad.gov.au

Resource_Description: ASAC_2300

Distribution_Liability:

Not Available

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: word, csv, excel

Transfer_Size: 24 kb

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name:

http://data.aad.gov.au

Access_Instructions:

DATA CENTER URL

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name:

http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/portal/download_file.c...

Access_Instructions:

Download point for the data - final report and data

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name:

https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/projects/r...

Access_Instructions:

Public information for ASAC project 2300

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name:

http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?...

Access_Instructions:

Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Fees: Free

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20030526

Metadata_Review_Date: 20110729

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: ADELE PILE

Contact_Position: INVESTIGATOR

Contact_Position: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Contact_Position: DIF AUTHOR

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: School Of Biological Sciences

Address: University of Sydney

Address: RM 202A HAYDON-LAURENCE BLDG A08

City: Sydney

State_or_Province: New South Wales

Postal_Code: 2006

Country: Australia

Contact_Voice_Telephone: +61 2 9351 2440

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: +61 2 9351 2558

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: apile@bio.usyd.edu.au

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998

Metadata_Time_Convention: local time