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Related: About this forumWhen the sea ice melts, juvenile polar cod may go hungry (and they are key to the Arctic food web)
https://www.awi.de/nc/en/about-us/service/press/press-release/wo-das-meereis-schmilzt-finden-junge-polardorsche-kein-futter-mehr.html[font face=Serif][font size=5]When the sea ice melts, juvenile polar cod may go hungry[/font]
[font size=4]Biologists confirm how heavily the fish depend on ice algae
(15. March 2017) Polar cod fulfil a key role in the Arctic food web, as they are a major source of food for seals, whales and seabirds alike. But the polar cod themselves might soon be the hungry ones. Under the ice of the central Arctic, the juvenile fish are indirectly but heavily dependent on ice algae. As a result, retreating sea ice could have far-reaching impacts on the food web. Though researchers have long since suspected this relation existed, an international team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have now successfully confirmed it.[/font]
[font size=3]Arctic sea ice offers a veritable nursery ground for polar cod: young fish between one and two years old live in cracks and crevices under the ice. They drift along with the ice, which is most likely how they make their way from their spawning grounds in the waters of northern Siberia to the central Arctic. During their journey, the young polar cod feed on amphipod crustaceans, which in turn feed on ice algae. As such, there is a direct relation between the polar cod and the ice algae, which could ultimately threaten the young polar cods survival. This was the key outcome of a study recently published in the journal Progress in Oceanography. Amongst others, the research institute Wageningen Marine Research in the Netherlands joined in the study.
Generally speaking, our findings indicate that polar cod are heavily dependent on ice algae, says first author and AWI biologist Doreen Kohlbach. That means the rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice poses an especially serious threat for polar cod. When the ice retreats, it takes with it the basis of their diet. Given the polar cods pivotal role, this could also produce changes throughout the entire food web.
In the study, Kohlbach and her colleagues analysed the stomach contents of the fish which they had caught directly under the sea ice in the course of a several-week-long expedition to the Arctic Ocean on board the research vessel Polarstern. Between Greenland, Spitsbergen and Russia, the researchers dragged a specially designed under-ice net alongside the ship.
The analysis shows that diatoms make up the most important source of carbon for polar cod, explains Kohlbach. In fact, the outcomes indicate that between 50 and 90 per cent of the young polar cods carbon stems from ice algae. Even though we had assumed there was a connection between the ice algae and polar cod from the outset of the study, these high values surprised us.
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[font size=4]Biologists confirm how heavily the fish depend on ice algae
(15. March 2017) Polar cod fulfil a key role in the Arctic food web, as they are a major source of food for seals, whales and seabirds alike. But the polar cod themselves might soon be the hungry ones. Under the ice of the central Arctic, the juvenile fish are indirectly but heavily dependent on ice algae. As a result, retreating sea ice could have far-reaching impacts on the food web. Though researchers have long since suspected this relation existed, an international team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have now successfully confirmed it.[/font]
[font size=3]Arctic sea ice offers a veritable nursery ground for polar cod: young fish between one and two years old live in cracks and crevices under the ice. They drift along with the ice, which is most likely how they make their way from their spawning grounds in the waters of northern Siberia to the central Arctic. During their journey, the young polar cod feed on amphipod crustaceans, which in turn feed on ice algae. As such, there is a direct relation between the polar cod and the ice algae, which could ultimately threaten the young polar cods survival. This was the key outcome of a study recently published in the journal Progress in Oceanography. Amongst others, the research institute Wageningen Marine Research in the Netherlands joined in the study.
Generally speaking, our findings indicate that polar cod are heavily dependent on ice algae, says first author and AWI biologist Doreen Kohlbach. That means the rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice poses an especially serious threat for polar cod. When the ice retreats, it takes with it the basis of their diet. Given the polar cods pivotal role, this could also produce changes throughout the entire food web.
In the study, Kohlbach and her colleagues analysed the stomach contents of the fish which they had caught directly under the sea ice in the course of a several-week-long expedition to the Arctic Ocean on board the research vessel Polarstern. Between Greenland, Spitsbergen and Russia, the researchers dragged a specially designed under-ice net alongside the ship.
The analysis shows that diatoms make up the most important source of carbon for polar cod, explains Kohlbach. In fact, the outcomes indicate that between 50 and 90 per cent of the young polar cods carbon stems from ice algae. Even though we had assumed there was a connection between the ice algae and polar cod from the outset of the study, these high values surprised us.
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When the sea ice melts, juvenile polar cod may go hungry (and they are key to the Arctic food web) (Original Post)
OKIsItJustMe
Mar 2017
OP
gibraltar72
(7,512 posts)1. Wayne tracker
says it's not happening, and if it is it definitely isn't exxons fault.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)2. Oh! Well, that's different
(Never mind.)