The sea-ice algal community of seasonal pack ice in the southwestern Kara Sea in late winter

The composition and abundance of ice algae have been studied in a 64-cm core of seasonal pack ice taken in the southwestern Kara Sea in February 1996. The cell numbers, biomass and taxonomic diversity of the ice microalgal assemblages were rather low, and there was a predominance of diatoms. The comparison of its composition with that of the pelagic microalgal community demonstrated a great difference between them. The ecological function of the seasonal ice habitat as a depository for seeding material of the early-spring pelagic diatom is suggested. Accepted: 7 August 2000     

Effects of hydrographic variability on the spatial, seasonal and diel diving patterns of southern elephant seals in the eastern Weddell Sea

Weddell Sea hydrography and circulation is driven by influx of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) at its eastern margin. Entrainment and upwelling of this high-nutrient, oxygen-depleted water mass within the Weddell Gyre also supports the mesopelagic ecosystem within the gyre and the rich benthic community along the Antarctic shelf. We used Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) to examine the importance of hydrographic variability, ice cover and season on the movements and diving behavior of southern elephant seals in the eastern Weddell Sea region during their overwinter feeding trips from Bouvetøya. We developed a model describing diving depth as a function of local time of day to account for diel variation in diving behavior. Seals feeding in pelagic ice-free waters during the summer months displayed clear diel variation, with daytime dives reaching 500-1500 m and night-time targeting of the subsurface temperature and salinity maxima characteristic of CDW around 150–300 meters. This pattern was especially clear in the Weddell Cold and Warm Regimes within the gyre, occurred in the ACC, but was absent at the Dronning Maud Land shelf region where seals fed benthically. Diel variation was almost absent in pelagic feeding areas covered by winter sea ice, where seals targeted deep layers around 500–700 meters. Thus, elephant seals appear to switch between feeding strategies when moving between oceanic regimes or in response to seasonal environmental conditions. While they are on the shelf, they exploit the locally-rich benthic ecosystem, while diel patterns in pelagic waters in summer are probably a response to strong vertical migration patterns within the copepod-based pelagic food web. Behavioral flexibility that permits such switching between different feeding strategies may have important consequences regarding the potential for southern elephant seals to adapt to variability or systematic changes in their environment resulting from climate change.     

Effects of temperature on spring bloom dynamics of epilithic diatom communities in the Gulf of Bothnia

Abstract. In order to forecast consequences of climatic changes for littoral algae in coastal ecosystems, the effects of temperature increase on spring bloom dynamics of epilithic diatom communities were studied in two ways: (1) Communities were compared from sites receiving different amounts of cooling water discharge from a nuclear power plant. (2) Communities from the exceptionally warm spring of 1989 were compared with those from the same sites in the preceding normal years. The studies were carried out in and around the Forsmark Biotest Basin, an artificial waterbody that receives brackish cooling water from the Forsmark nuclear power plant on the Swedish east coast. Species composition and biomass data from 200 epilithic diatom samples taken in the period January-May from 1983 to 1989 were analysed. Multiple regression analysis was used to show the responses of diatom cover, community diversity and abundances of individual taxa to water temperature and other environmental factors. Constrained ordination (CCA) was used to display the relationship of overall community composition to environment. Increased water temperature resulted in higher biomass through a chain of ecological effects. Strong reduction of ice cover was crucial in this chain, resulting in reduced loss of diatom cells by reduced abrading and higher primary production by higher availability of light, nutrients and substrate. The conclusion is that large blooms of fast-growing epilithic diatoms in large colonies can occupy the niche that emerges when the ice-free season is prolonged in the northern Baltic Sea and areas similar in salinity and climatic conditions. Dramatic species shifts may only be expected if the winter ice cover is totally absent.     

Are phytoplankton blooms occurring earlier in the Arctic?

Time series of satellite‐derived surface chlorophyll‐a concentration (Chl) in 1997–2009 were used to examine for trends in the timing of the annual phytoplankton bloom maximum. Significant trends towards earlier phytoplankton blooms were detected in about 11% of the area of the Arctic Ocean with valid Chl data, e.g. in the Hudson Bay, Foxe Basin, Baffin Sea, off the coasts of Greenland, in the Kara Sea and around Novaya Zemlya. These areas roughly coincide with areas where ice concentration has decreased in early summer (June), thus making the earlier blooms possible. In the selected areas, the annual phytoplankton bloom maximum has advanced by up to 50 days which may have consequences for the Arctic food chain and carbon cycling. Outside the Arctic, the annual Chl maximum has become earlier in boreal North Pacific but later in the North Atlantic.     

Distribution of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the Russian Arctic seas according to the results of expedition aboard RV Mikhail Somov, September–November 2010

Data on the distribution of marine mammals, including beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, 1766), in the Arctic are scarce because of various causes and conditions, including the vast expanses of the region, its poor accessibility, severe climate, long polar night, and high cost of research. Nevertheless, the results of aerial observations during ice reconnaissance and onboard observations during sea voyages (Kleinenberg et al., 1964; Geptner et al., 1976; Belikov, Boltunov, and Gorbunov, 2002; Belikov and Boltunov, 2002; Ezhov, 2005; Matishov and Ognetov, 2006; Biologiya i okeanografiya??, 2007; Lukin and Ognetov, 2009) have provided a general idea of the distribution pattern of beluga whales in the Russian Arctic seas. More detailed data concern the distribution of these whales in the White Sea, where aerial surveys of the water area were performed previously and have been resumed in recent years (Nazarenko et al., 2008; Glazov et al., 2010, 2011). The relevant data on the Barents, Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian seas are much poorer. In the summer (ice-free) period, beluga whales concentrate in coastal waters. They have been recorded most frequently off Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach Island, and in Czech Bay in the Barents Sea; in Baydaratskaya Bay, Gulf of Ob, and Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea; off the northeastern coast of Taimyr and in estuaries of the Anabar, Olenyok, and Lena rivers in the Laptev Sea; and in the estuaries of the Indigirka (where the whales come from the west) and the Kolyma and Ked??ma rivers (where they come from the east) in the East Siberian Sea. The amount of information obtained in other seasons is very limited. In autumn, mass migration of beluga whales from the Kara Sea to the Barents Sea have been recorded in the Karskie Vorota Strait and off Cape Zhelaniya in the north of Novaya Zemlya. In winter, almost no records of these whales have been made in the Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian seas. These data are based on previous observations and have practically not been complemented in recent years.     

Contribution of sea ice organic matter in the diet of Antarctic fishes: a diatom-specific highly branched isoprenoid approach

New sets of diatom-specific biomarkers, highly branched isoprenoids (HBIs), have been recently proposed to trace carbon flow from ice algae and pelagic phytoplankton to higher trophic level organisms. In the Antarctic, diene, a HBI of sea ice origin was more abundant in ice-associated species, while triene, a HBI of phytoplanktonic origin, was more abundant in pelagic species. However, this HBI approach has never been applied on Antarctic benthic species. Here, we analyzed diene and triene in the liver and the muscle of eight Antarctic coastal fish species (108 specimens). HBI lipids were detected in all specimens, confirming the contribution of sea ice and pelagic organic matter in coastal benthic fish species. Moreover, HBI markers were much more concentrated in the liver than in white muscle, and the relative concentrations of diene and triene strongly varied among species, as a probable result of species differences in feeding habits and trophic ecology. Seasonal variations in HBI concentrations were detected during the whole year in white muscle, but not in the liver. These findings are consistent with the well-known spring bloom in November–December, just before the annual ice break up, and the second proliferation of ice algae during the land-fast ice formation, in April–May. Therefore, investigation of HBI lipids in white muscle will likely shed new light on seasonal changes in the contribution of ice algal-derived organic matter in higher trophic level organisms.     

Comparison study of the modern ostracod associations in the Kara and Laptev seas: Ecological aspects

Recent ostracod assemblages were investigated from coretop sediment samples collected in the eastern Kara Sea from water depths down to 300 m. A total of 45 species were identified, 27 of them were reported for the Kara Sea for the first time. The Kara Sea data were compared with our results on the distribution of ostracods in the eastern Laptev Sea. The spatial distribution of recent taxa and the ecological groupings demonstrate a clear relation to dominant environmental factors which range from estuarine to full-marine conditions. Four assemblages related to average summer bottom water salinities were established: (1) a freshwater assemblage from the inner estuaries of the Ob' and Yenisei rivers with salinities less than 2 and from thermokarst lagoons of the southern Laptev Sea coast with strong salinization in winter; (2) a brackishwater assemblage of the outer estuaries of the Ob' and Yenisei rivers with salinities up to 26; (3) a mixed euryhaline–marine assemblage dominated by euryhaline species Paracyprideis pseudopunctillata and Heterocyprideis sorbyana from the inner shelf river-affected zone of the Kara and Laptev seas, where salinities range between 26 and 32; (4) a taxonomically diverse marine assemblage dominated by shallow-water marine taxa from the northern parts of the Kara and Laptev shelves and upper continental slope with stable bottom environments and a salinity higher than 32. Abundant euryhaline species found at greater water depths are identified as part of an ice-rafted assemblage. They are possibly entrained into the newly formed fast ice during autumn storms and freeze-up period and then transported to the distal open-sea areas during summer.     

Decadal-scale changes of dinoflagellates and diatoms in the anomalous baltic sea spring bloom

The algal spring bloom in the Baltic Sea represents an anomaly from the winter-spring bloom patterns worldwide in terms of frequent and recurring dominance of dinoflagellates over diatoms. Analysis of approximately 3500 spring bloom samples from the Baltic Sea monitoring programs revealed (i) that within the major basins the proportion of dinoflagellates varied from 0.1 (Kattegat) to >0.8 (central Baltic Proper), and (ii) substantial shifts (e.g. from 0.2 to 0.6 in the Gulf of Finland) in the dinoflagellate proportion over four decades. During a recent decade (1995-2004) the proportion of dinoflagellates increased relative to diatoms mostly in the northernmost basins (Gulf of Bothnia, from 0.1 to 0.4) and in the Gulf of Finland, (0.4 to 0.6) which are typically ice-covered areas. We hypothesize that in coastal areas a specific sequence of seasonal events, involving wintertime mixing and resuspension of benthic cysts, followed by proliferation in stratified thin layers under melting ice, favors successful seeding and accumulation of dense dinoflagellate populations over diatoms. This head-start of dinoflagellates by the onset of the spring bloom is decisive for successful competition with the faster growing diatoms. Massive cyst formation and spreading of cyst beds fuel the expanding and ever larger dinoflagellate blooms in the relatively shallow coastal waters. Shifts in the dominant spring bloom algal groups can have significant effects on major elemental fluxes and functioning of the Baltic Sea ecosystem, but also in the vast shelves and estuaries at high latitudes, where ice-associated cold-water dinoflagellates successfully compete with diatoms.     

Ecological Factors of Hydrolytic Enzyme Activities in the Ob–Yenisey Estuarine Coastal Waters in Winter and Their Modelling

The ice conditions at the Ob–Yenisey estuarine coastal waters with relatively diffuse ice cover have been described using the data obtained in the Kara Sea survey aboard the nuclear icebreaker Yamal in January 22–March 6, 2003. The data on the capacity and rate of enzymatic degradation of various forms of organic matter and on the associated ecological factors in the region of active sea water/continental water interaction are given. We analyzed spatial distribution of the main types of water bodies as well as the cascade structure formed by some biogeochemical barriers near the Ob–Yenisey flaw polynya. We also analyzed the correlations between the indices of extracellular biochemical activity in water and the main abiotic and biotic factors during the organotrophic phase. The processes determining the level of biochemical activity in winter water and the rates of potential degradation of various organic compounds are considered.     

基于遥感数据的东海浮游植物生物量时空变化研究

基于地理位置、纬度和生态特征的不同在东海选取了9个面积相同的子区域,采用1997-2015年由SeaWiFS(Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor)和MODIS(Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)传感器获得的叶绿素a浓度资料,对我国东海浮游植物生物量的时空变化和藻华现象进行了分析。通过高斯曲线模型拟合,得到了藻华爆发的起始时间、峰值时间、结束时间及持续时间。研究表明东海浮游植物生物量在空间上的分布规律为:外海浮游植物生物量小于近岸;长江口和台州列岛海域的浮游植物生物量较大,近黄海海域的两个区域次之,较小的位于南麂列岛海域和台湾海峡,越靠近南部海域浮游植物生物量越低。藻华发生的规律为:以南麂列岛为分界线,由高纬度到低纬度,浮游植物到达藻华发生峰值的时间持续推后,爆发持续时间增长。     

On processes determining the vertical stability of surface waters in the marginal ice zone of the north-western Weddell Sea and their relationship with phytoplankton bloom development

Summary Ice-edge-related phytoplankton blooms following the retreating sea-ice in the marginal ice zone are frequently observed phenomena. Such blooms are generally short-lived and are followed by a strong decrease in the chlorophyll concentration towards the open ocean, generally explained by the degradation of the vertical stability. Solar heating and ice melting, which control the stability of the surface water of the north-western Weddell Sea during sea-ice retreat in spring were analysed in order to relate the spatial features of the phytoplankton ice-edge bloom in 1988 to the density field. Solar heating has little effect on the density of seawater in ice-covered areas because the thermal expansion coefficient is very low close to the freezing temperature. Outside the marginal ice zone, the temperature effect on stratification increases and the combined contribution of melting and heating on buoyancy input to the surface layer is roughly constant. As a consequence, the low phytoplankton stocks in the open ocean adjacent to the marginal ice zone, after an initial bloom peak following the retreating ice in spring, are not necessarily caused by deep turbulent mixing, in contrast to what is often assumed.Data presented here were collected during the European Polarstern Study (EPOS) sponsored by the European Science Foundation     

Evidence of Macroalgal Colonization on Newly Ice-Free Areas following Glacial Retreat in Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands), Antarctica

Climate warming has been related to glacial retreat along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Over the last years, a visible melting of Fourcade Glacier (Potter Cove, South Shetland Islands) has exposed newly ice-free hard bottom areas available for benthic colonization. However, ice melting produces a reduction of light penetration due to an increase of sediment input and higher ice impact. Seventeen years ago, the coastal sites close to the glacier cliffs were devoid of macroalgae. Are the newly ice-free areas suitable for macroalgal colonization? To tackle this question, underwater video transects were performed at six newly ice-free areas with different degree of glacial influence. Macroalgae were found in all sites, even in close proximity to the retreating glacier. We can show that: 1. The complexity of the macroalgal community is positively correlated to the elapsed time from the ice retreat, 2. Algae development depends on the optical conditions and the sediment input in the water column; some species are limited by light availability, 3. Macroalgal colonization is negatively affected by the ice disturbance, 4. The colonization is determined by the size and type of substrate and by the slope of the bottom. As macroalgae are probably one of the main energy sources for the benthos, an expansion of the macroalgal distribution can be expected to affect the matter and energy fluxes in Potter Cove ecosystem.     

Occurrence of the hepatotoxic cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena in the Baltic Sea and structure of the toxin

Water blooms formed by potentially toxic species of cyanobacteria are a common phenomenon in the Baltic Sea in late summer. Twenty-five cyanobacterial bloom samples were collected from open and coastal waters of the Baltic Sea during 1985 to 1987, and their toxicity was determined by mouse bioassay. All of 5 bloom samples from the southern Baltic Sea, 6 of 6 from the open northern Baltic Sea (Gulf of Finland), and 7 of 14 Finnish coastal samples were found to contain hepatotoxic cyanobacteria. Nodularia spumigena and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae occurred together in high amounts in blooms from the open-sea areas. In addition, coastal samples contained the species Anabaena lemmermannii, Microcystis aeruginosa, and Oscillatoria agardhii. Eighteen hepatotoxic N. spumigena cultures were isolated from water bloom and open-sea water samples. High-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of both hepatotoxic bloom samples and Nodularia strains showed a single toxic fraction. The toxin concentrations of the blooms were less than or equal to 2.4 mg/g of freeze-dried material, and those of laboratory-grown cultures were 2.5 to 8.0 mg/g of freeze-dried cells. A single toxin was isolated from three N. spumigena-containing bloom samples and three N. spumigena laboratory isolates. Amino acid analysis and low- and high-resolution fast-atom bombardment mass spectroscopy indicated that the toxin from all of the sources was a cyclic pentapeptide (molecular weight, 824) containing glutamic acid, beta-methylaspartic acid, arginine, N-methyldehydrobutyrine, and 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-4,6-decadienoic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Occurrence of the hepatotoxic cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena in the Baltic Sea and structure of the toxin.

Water blooms formed by potentially toxic species of cyanobacteria are a common phenomenon in the Baltic Sea in late summer. Twenty-five cyanobacterial bloom samples were collected from open and coastal waters of the Baltic Sea during 1985 to 1987, and their toxicity was determined by mouse bioassay. All of 5 bloom samples from the southern Baltic Sea, 6 of 6 from the open northern Baltic Sea (Gulf of Finland), and 7 of 14 Finnish coastal samples were found to contain hepatotoxic cyanobacteria. Nodularia spumigena and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae occurred together in high amounts in blooms from the open-sea areas. In addition, coastal samples contained the species Anabaena lemmermannii, Microcystis aeruginosa, and Oscillatoria agardhii. Eighteen hepatotoxic N. spumigena cultures were isolated from water bloom and open-sea water samples. High-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of both hepatotoxic bloom samples and Nodularia strains showed a single toxic fraction. The toxin concentrations of the blooms were less than or equal to 2.4 mg/g of freeze-dried material, and those of laboratory-grown cultures were 2.5 to 8.0 mg/g of freeze-dried cells. A single toxin was isolated from three N. spumigena-containing bloom samples and three N. spumigena laboratory isolates. Amino acid analysis and low- and high-resolution fast-atom bombardment mass spectroscopy indicated that the toxin from all of the sources was a cyclic pentapeptide (molecular weight, 824) containing glutamic acid, beta-methylaspartic acid, arginine, N-methyldehydrobutyrine, and 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-4,6-decadienoic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Sea ice phenology and timing of primary production pulses in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic organisms are adapted to the strong seasonality of environmental forcing. A small timing mismatch between biological processes and the environment could potentially have significant consequences for the entire food web. Climate warming causes shrinking ice coverage and earlier ice retreat in the Arctic, which is likely to change the timing of primary production. In this study, we test predictions on the interactions among sea ice phenology and production timing of ice algae and pelagic phytoplankton. We do so using the following (1) a synthesis of available satellite observation data; and (2) the application of a coupled ice‐ocean ecosystem model. The data and model results suggest that, over a large portion of the Arctic marginal seas, the timing variability in ice retreat at a specific location has a strong impact on the timing variability in pelagic phytoplankton peaks, but weak or no impact on the timing of ice‐algae peaks in those regions. The model predicts latitudinal and regional differences in the timing of ice algae biomass peak (varying from April to May) and the time lags between ice algae and pelagic phytoplankton peaks (varying from 45 to 90 days). The correlation between the time lag and ice retreat is significant in areas where ice retreat has no significant impact on ice‐algae peak timing, suggesting that changes in pelagic phytoplankton peak timing control the variability in time lags. Phenological variability in primary production is likely to have consequences for higher trophic levels, particularly for the zooplankton grazers, whose main food source is composed of the dually pulsed algae production of the Arctic.     

Latitudinal gradients in sea ice and primary production determine Arctic seabird colony size in Greenland

Sea ice loss will indirectly alter energy transfer through the pelagic food web and ultimately impact apex predators. We quantified spring-time trends in sea ice recession around each of 46 thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) colonies in west Greenland across 20 degrees of latitude and investigated the magnitude and timing of the associated spring-time primary production. A geographical information system was used to extract satellite-based observations of sea ice concentration from the Nimbus-7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR, 1979-1987) and the Defence Meteorological Satellite Programs Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSMI, 1987-2004), and satellite-based observations of chlorophyll a from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS: EOS-Terra satellite) in weekly intervals in circular buffers around each colony site (150 km in radius). Rapid recession of high Arctic seasonal ice cover created a temporally predictable primary production bloom and associated trophic cascade in water gradually exposed to solar radiation. This pattern was largely absent from lower latitudes where little to no sea ice resulted in a temporally variable primary production bloom driven by nutrient cycling and upwelling uncoupled to ice. The relationship between the rate and variability of sea ice recession and colony size of thick-billed murres shows that periodical confinement of the trophic cascade at high latitudes determines the carrying capacity for Arctic seabirds during the breeding period.     

Detecting glacial refugia in the Southern Ocean

Throughout the Quaternary, the continental-based Antarctic ice sheets expanded and contracted repeatedly. Evidence suggests that during glacial maxima, grounded ice eliminated most benthic (bottom-dwelling) fauna across the Antarctic continental shelf. However, paleontological and molecular evidence indicates most extant Antarctica benthic taxa have persisted in situ throughout the Quaternary. Where and how the Antarctic benthic fauna survived throughout repeated glacial maxima remain mostly hypothesised. If understood, this would provide valuable insights into the ecology and evolution of Southern Ocean biota over geological timescales. Here we synthesised and appraised recent studies and presented an approach to demonstrate how genetic data can be effective in identifying where and how Antarctic benthic fauna survived glacial periods. We first examined the geological and ecological evidence for how glacial periods influenced past species demography in order to provide testable frameworks for future studies. We outlined past ice-free areas from Antarctic ice sheet reconstructions that could serve as glacial refugia and discussed how benthic fauna with pelagic or non-pelagic dispersal strategies moved into and out of glacial refugia. We also reviewed current molecular studies and collated proposed locations of Southern Ocean glacial refugia on the continental shelf around Antarctica, in the deep sea, and around sub-Antarctic islands. Interestingly, the proposed glacial refugia based on molecular data generally do not correspond to the ice-free areas identified by Antarctic ice sheet reconstructions. The potential biases in sampling and in the choice of molecular markers in current literature are discussed, along with the future directions for employing testable frameworks and genomic methods in Southern Ocean molecular studies. Continued data syntheses will elucidate greater understanding of where and how Southern Ocean benthic fauna persisted throughout glacial periods and provide insights into their resilience against climate changes in the future.     

Winter aspects of the ichthyoplankton community in Antarctic Peninsula waters

Summary Ichthyoplankton was sampled from the Antarctic Peninsula area of the South Polar Ocean in early winter (May and June 1986). A total of 153 eggs from two species and 1368 larvae or juvenile stages from 12 species were obtained. These included pelagic species, and demersal species with a long pelagic larval or juvenile phase. Most abundant were larvae of Pleuragramma antarcticum and Notothenia kempi, and eggs of Notothenia neglecta. The distribution of notothenioid and paralepidid larvae was apparently unaffected by ice cover, whereas myctophid larvae were confined to ice-free waters. Areas where newly hatched Chionodraco hamatus occurred coincided with dense aggregations of Euphausia superba (Krill) furcilia larvae which is a potential food resource during winter. The hatching of icefish larvae during winter is apparently independent of the seasonal production cycle. Epipelagic eggs of Notothenia neglecta were found during the spawning season, which suggests that eggs ascend to the surface after demersal spawning and that development takes place near the sea surface during winter. Larvae of Notothenia kempi were chiefly confined to shelf and slope waters to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula, with larger larvae found in coastal shelf areas. Pleuragramma antarcticum occurred in the coastal waters off the Biscoe Islands, in the Gerlache Strait, and in the northern Bransfield Strait. The smallest larvae were found in the northern Bransfield Strait, whereas those at the Biscoe Islands and in Gerlache Strait waters were larger and of a similar size. A cyclonic gyre to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula observed in the austral summer was likely to have affected the larval drift of Pleuragramma antarcticum and Notothenia kempi. Differences in the timing of spawning and hatching and the vertical distribution of these larvae will lead to different transport and spatial distribution patterns. It is hypothesized that early winter conditions do not imply severe limitations on the year-class success of larval fish. Dispersal and increased mortality may occur during the second half of the winter.     

Latest Quaternary oceanographic changes in the Okhotsk Sea based on diatom records

The Okhotsk Sea is a locus of the North Pacific Intermediate Water formation today. The formation of the Okhotsk Intermediate Water is linked with seasonal sea-ice cover. Diatom records from the Okhotsk Sea show the following. (1) During the last glacial maximum (between 21,000 yr B.P. and 18,000 yr B.P.), sea ice covered the western side of the sea throughout the whole year, but the eastern part was open. This permitted more efficient heat exchange with the atmosphere than waters and hence ventilation of the glacial Okhotsk Sea waters which in turn caused a greater extent of Intermediate Water formation through the Bussol' Strait. (2) The perennial sea-ice cover extended northward, and sea ice was present throughout the whole year over a great part of the sea except for the eastern part between 18,000 yr B.P. and 17,000 yr B.P. (3) The ice-free area extended greatly to the south during the interval between 17,000 yr B.P. and 11,000 yr B.P. (4) There was no perennial ice cover over the whole sea, and the ice-free area that appeared as the seasonal ice area began to extend to the western part between 11,000 yr B.P. and 8,000 yr B.P. (5) After 8000 yr B.P. the ice-free waters contracted to the present extent.     

Structure of the summer under fast ice microbial community near Syowa Station,eastern Antarctica

Temporal variations in the microbial community structure of plankton, which is composed of autotrophic and heterotrophic pico-, nano- and microplankton, were investigated during the austral summer of 2005/2006 under fast ice near Syowa Station, eastern Antarctica. Autotrophic algal populations were composed almost entirely of diatoms followed by phytoflagellates such as autotrophic dinoflagellates and cryptophytes. Among the microbial community, heterotrophic biomass was dominated by heterotrophic dinoflagellates and naked ciliates and finally exceeded autotrophic biomass. Qualitative microscopic analysis revealed that heterotrophic dinoflagellates were ingesting large number of diatoms. Synchronizing fluctuation of naked ciliates with phytoflagellates suggested a predator–prey relationship between them. Our results suggest that the pelagic food webs under the extensive ice-covered areas in coastal Antarctic regions are not short but complex.