Benthos in the Antarctic Weddell Sea in decline
Thursday, May 7, 2020 - 13:11
in Earth & Climate
Over the past quarter-century, changes in Antarctic sea-ice cover have had profound impacts on life on the ocean floor. As biologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute report in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communications, between 1988 and 2014, total benthic biomass on the continental shelf of the northeast Weddell Sea declined by two thirds. In addition, the composition of the benthos changed drastically, and the ecosystem's productivity suffered. This period coincides with a significant increase in sea-ice cover in the region, a trend that peaked in 2014.