Sea ice presence is linked to higher carbon export and vertical microbial connectivity in the Eurasian Arctic Ocean
- Author(s)
- Eduard Fadeev, Andreas Rogge, Simon Ramondenc, Eva-Maria Nöthig, Claudia Wekerle, Christina Bienhold, Ian Salter, Anya M. Waite, Laura Hehemann, Antje Boetius, Morten H. Iversen
- Abstract
Arctic Ocean sea ice cover is shrinking due to warming. Long-term sediment trap data shows higher export efficiency of particulate organic carbon in regions with seasonal sea ice compared to regions without sea ice. To investigate this sea-ice enhanced export, we compared how different early summer phytoplankton communities in seasonally ice-free and ice-covered regions of the Fram Strait affect carbon export and vertical dispersal of microbes. In situ collected aggregates revealed two-fold higher carbon export of diatom-rich aggregates in ice-covered regions, compared to Phaeocystis aggregates in the ice-free region. Using microbial source tracking, we found that ice-covered regions were also associated with more surface-born microbial clades exported to the deep sea. Taken together, our results showed that ice-covered regions are responsible for high export efficiency and provide strong vertical microbial connectivity. Therefore, continuous sea-ice loss may decrease the vertical export efficiency, and thus the pelagic-benthic coupling, with potential repercussions for Arctic deep-sea ecosystems.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
- External organisation(s)
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Max-Planck-Institut für marine Mikrobiologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Havstovan Faroe Marine Research Institute, Ocean Frontier Institute, Universität Bremen
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Volume
- 4
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 2399-3642
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02776-w
- Publication date
- 11-2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106022 Microbiology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all), Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/sea-ice-presence-is-linked-to-higher-carbon-export-and-vertical-microbial-connectivity-in-the-eurasian-arctic-ocean(9458c53c-9c7a-4118-9e0c-5955138f3b5a).html