Abstract
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 478:27-41 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10214 Establishing a food web model for coastal Antarctic benthic communities: a case study from the Vestfold Hills C. L. Gillies1,2,3,*, J. S. Stark2, G. J. Johnstone2, S. D. A. Smith1 1National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales 2450, Australia 2Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Hwy, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia 3Present address: Earthwatch Australia, 126 Bank St, South Melbourne, Victoria 3205, Australia *Email: cgillies@earthwatch.org.au ABSTRACT: Shallow-water benthic communities throughout coastal Antarctica share many species and are governed by similar physico-oceanographic processes. This suggests community structure and function may be similar among communities despite being geographically separated by up to 15 degrees of latitude and 18000 km of coastline. To test this theory, we developed a food web model using stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) for the high-latitude Vestfold Hills shallow-water benthic community and compared it to the isotopic food web model developed for the Windmill Islands, located over 1000 km away. For the Vestfold Hills food web, carbon sources were generally well separated by δ13C, and lower-order consumers could be grouped according to their feeding guild and main dietary sources as determined by δ13C and δ15N. Higher-order consumers occupied the full range of δ13C ratios and had similar δ15N values, although predators were weakly, but significantly, enriched in δ15N compared to scavenger/predators and omnivores. When comparing with the Windmill Islands food web, we found similar δ13C ratios for several co-occurring carbon sources and consumers, whilst the δ15N ratios in consumers from the Vestfold Hills were consistently enriched compared to those from the Windmill Islands by 1 to 2‰. The relative positions of feeding guilds on the δ13C and δ15N planes were similar for both food webs. These results suggest there is considerable merit in developing a representative food web model for Antarctic shallow-water communities. Such a model would provide a trophic benchmark against which modification in these communities brought about by climate change or other human impacts could be compared. KEY WORDS: Energy flow · Trophic ecology · Casey Station · Davis Station · Windmill Islands · Stable isotope analysis Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Gillies CL, Stark JS, Johnstone GJ, Smith SDA (2013) Establishing a food web model for coastal Antarctic benthic communities: a case study from the Vestfold Hills. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 478:27-41. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10214 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 478. Online publication date: March 25, 2013 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2013 Inter-Research.
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