Retention of ice-associated amphipods: possible consequences for an ice-free Arctic Ocean |
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Authors: | J. Berge ?. Varpe M. A. Moline A. Wold P. E. Renaud M. Daase S. Falk-Petersen |
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Affiliation: | 1.University Centre in Svalbard, Pb 156, 9171 Longyearbyen, Norway;2.Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway;3.Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9296 Tromsø, Norway;4.Akvaplan-niva., Fram Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9296 Tromsø, Norway;5.School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958, USA |
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Abstract: | Recent studies predict that the Arctic Ocean will have ice-free summers within the next 30 years. This poses a significant challenge for the marine organisms associated with the Arctic sea ice, such as marine mammals and, not least, the ice-associated crustaceans generally considered to spend their entire life on the underside of the Arctic sea ice. Based upon unique samples collected within the Arctic Ocean during the polar night, we provide a new conceptual understanding of an intimate connection between these under-ice crustaceans and the deep Arctic Ocean currents. We suggest that downwards vertical migrations, followed by polewards transport in deep ocean currents, are an adaptive trait of ice fauna that both increases survival during ice-free periods of the year and enables re-colonization of sea ice when they ascend within the Arctic Ocean. From an evolutionary perspective, this may have been an adaptation allowing success in a seasonally ice-covered Arctic. Our findings may ultimately change the perception of ice fauna as a biota imminently threatened by the predicted disappearance of perennial sea ice. |
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Keywords: | Arctic sea-ice fauna conceptual model deep sea migration life history |
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