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Oceanic circumpolar habitats of Antarctic krill

2008; Inter-Research; Volume: 362; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps07498

1616-1599

Angus Atkinson, Volker Siegel, EA Pakhomov, P. Rothery, Valerie J. Loeb, RM Ross, LB Quetin, Katrin Schmidt, Peter T. Fretwell, EJ Murphy, GA Tarling, AH Fleming,

Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 362:1-23 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07498 FEATURE ARTICLE Oceanic circumpolar habitats of Antarctic krill A. Atkinson1,*, V. Siegel2, E. A. Pakhomov3,4, P. Rothery5, V. Loeb6, R. M. Ross7, L. B. Quetin7, K. Schmidt1, P. Fretwell1, E. J. Murphy1, G. A. Tarling1, A. H. Fleming1 1British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK 2Sea Fisheries Institute, Palmaille 9, 22767 Hamburg, Germany 3Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada 4Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa 5Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, CEH Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon PE28 2LS, UK 6Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, California 95039, USA 7Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-6150, USA *Email: aat@bas.ac.uk ABSTRACT: Surveys of Euphausia superba often target localised shelves and ice edges where their growth rates and predation losses are atypically high. Emphasis on these areas has led to the current view that krill require high food concentrations, with a distribution often linked to shelves. For a wider, circumpolar perspective, we compiled all available net-based density data on postlarvae from 8137 mainly summer stations from 1926 to 2004. Unlike Antarctic zooplankton, the distribution of E. superba is highly uneven, with 70% of the total stock concentrated between longitudes 0° and 90°W. Within this Atlantic sector, krill are abundant over both continental shelf and ocean. At the Antarctic Peninsula they are found mainly over the inner shelf, whereas in the Indian–Pacific sectors krill prevail in the ocean within 200 to 300 km of the shelf break. Overall, 87% of the total stock lives over deep oceanic water (>2000 m), and krill occupy regions with moderate food concentrations (0.5 to 1.0 mg chl a m–3). Advection models suggest some northwards loss from these regions and into the low chlorophyll belts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). We found possible evidence for a compensating southwards migration, with an increasing proportion of krill found south of the ACC as the season progresses. The retention of krill in moderately productive oceanic habitats is a key factor in their high total production. While growth rates are lower than over shelves, the ocean provides a refuge from shelf-based predators. The unusual circumpolar distribution of krill thus reflects a balance between advection, migration, top–down and bottom–up processes. KEY WORDS: Euphausiid · Circumpolar · Distribution · Growth · Mortality · Predation · Risk · Bottom–up control · Top–down control Full text in pdf format Information about this Feature Article Supplementary appendix NextCite this article as: Atkinson A, Siegel V, Pakhomov EA, Rothery P and others (2008) Oceanic circumpolar habitats of Antarctic krill. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 362:1-23. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07498Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 362. Online publication date: June 30, 2008 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.