The importance of ice algae-produced carbon in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem: Food web relationships revealed by lipid and stable isotope analyses

Doreen Kohlbach; Martin Graeve; Benjamin A. Lange; Carmen David; Ilka Peeken; Hauke Flores

doi:10.1002/lno.10351

The importance of ice algae-produced carbon in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem: Food web relationships revealed by lipid and stable isotope analyses

Doreen Kohlbach, Martin Graeve, Benjamin A. Lange, Carmen David, Ilka Peeken, Hauke Flores

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

154 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To better predict ecological consequences of changing Arctic sea ice environments, we aimed to quantify the contribution of ice algae-produced carbon (α_Ice) to pelagic food webs in the central Arctic Ocean. Eight abundant under-ice fauna species were submitted to fatty acid (FA) analysis, bulk stable isotope analysis (BSIA) of nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) and carbon (δ¹³C) isotopic ratios, and compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of δ¹³C in trophic marker FAs. A high mean contribution α_Ice was found in Apherusa glacialis and other sympagic (ice-associated) amphipods (BSIA: 87% to 91%, CSIA: 58% to 92%). The pelagic copepods Calanus glacialis and C. hyperboreus, and the pelagic amphipod Themisto libellula showed substantial, but varying α_Ice values (BSIA: 39% to 55%, CSIA: 23% to 48%). Lowest α_Ice mean values were found in the pteropod Clione limacina (BSIA: 30%, CSIA: 14% to 18%). Intra-specific differences in FA compositions related to two different environmental regimes were more pronounced in pelagic than in sympagic species. A comparison of mixing models using different isotopic approaches indicated that a model using δ¹³C signatures from both diatom-specific and dinoflagellate-specific marker FAs provided the most conservative estimate of α_Ice. Our results imply that ecological key species of the central Arctic Ocean thrive significantly on carbon synthesized by ice algae. Due to the close connectivity between sea ice and the pelagic food web, changes in sea ice coverage and ice algal production will likely have important consequences for food web functioning and carbon dynamics of the pelagic system.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2027-2044
Number of pages	18
Journal	Limnology and Oceanography
Volume	61
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10351
Publication status	Published - Nov 1 2016
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the captain Uwe Pahl and the crew of the RV ‘Polarstern’ expedition IceArc (PS80) for their excellent support with work at sea. We thank Jan Andries Van Franeker (IMARES) for kindly providing the surface and under-ice trawl (SUIT) and Michiel Van Dorssen for technical support with work at sea. The SUIT was developed by IMARES with support from the Netherlands Ministry of EZ (project WOT-04-009-036) and the Netherlands Polar Program (projects ALW 851.20.011 and 866.13.009). We thank Martina Vortkamp, Dieter Janssen and Sandra Murawski for support with the laboratory analyses at the Alfred Wegener Institute. We thank Maren Voss for her help with the bulk stable isotope analyses (IOW Warnemünde). We thank Stefan Frickenhaus for support with the statistical analyses. Barbara Niehoff and Julia Ehrlich provided data on pelagic zooplankton abundances. This study is part of the Helmholtz Association Young Investigators Group Iceflux: Ice-ecosystem carbon flux in polar oceans (VH-NG-800). We thank the editor Thomas Kiørboe and the reviewer Shiway Wang for their helpful suggestions and comments during the review process.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors Limnology and Oceanography published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Oceanography
Aquatic Science

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10.1002/lno.10351

Cite this

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title = "The importance of ice algae-produced carbon in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem: Food web relationships revealed by lipid and stable isotope analyses",

abstract = "To better predict ecological consequences of changing Arctic sea ice environments, we aimed to quantify the contribution of ice algae-produced carbon (αIce) to pelagic food webs in the central Arctic Ocean. Eight abundant under-ice fauna species were submitted to fatty acid (FA) analysis, bulk stable isotope analysis (BSIA) of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotopic ratios, and compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of δ13C in trophic marker FAs. A high mean contribution αIce was found in Apherusa glacialis and other sympagic (ice-associated) amphipods (BSIA: 87% to 91%, CSIA: 58% to 92%). The pelagic copepods Calanus glacialis and C. hyperboreus, and the pelagic amphipod Themisto libellula showed substantial, but varying αIce values (BSIA: 39% to 55%, CSIA: 23% to 48%). Lowest αIce mean values were found in the pteropod Clione limacina (BSIA: 30%, CSIA: 14% to 18%). Intra-specific differences in FA compositions related to two different environmental regimes were more pronounced in pelagic than in sympagic species. A comparison of mixing models using different isotopic approaches indicated that a model using δ13C signatures from both diatom-specific and dinoflagellate-specific marker FAs provided the most conservative estimate of αIce. Our results imply that ecological key species of the central Arctic Ocean thrive significantly on carbon synthesized by ice algae. Due to the close connectivity between sea ice and the pelagic food web, changes in sea ice coverage and ice algal production will likely have important consequences for food web functioning and carbon dynamics of the pelagic system.",

author = "Doreen Kohlbach and Martin Graeve and {A. Lange}, Benjamin and Carmen David and Ilka Peeken and Hauke Flores",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the captain Uwe Pahl and the crew of the RV {\textquoteleft}Polarstern{\textquoteright} expedition IceArc (PS80) for their excellent support with work at sea. We thank Jan Andries Van Franeker (IMARES) for kindly providing the surface and under-ice trawl (SUIT) and Michiel Van Dorssen for technical support with work at sea. The SUIT was developed by IMARES with support from the Netherlands Ministry of EZ (project WOT-04-009-036) and the Netherlands Polar Program (projects ALW 851.20.011 and 866.13.009). We thank Martina Vortkamp, Dieter Janssen and Sandra Murawski for support with the laboratory analyses at the Alfred Wegener Institute. We thank Maren Voss for her help with the bulk stable isotope analyses (IOW Warnem{\"u}nde). We thank Stefan Frickenhaus for support with the statistical analyses. Barbara Niehoff and Julia Ehrlich provided data on pelagic zooplankton abundances. This study is part of the Helmholtz Association Young Investigators Group Iceflux: Ice-ecosystem carbon flux in polar oceans (VH-NG-800). We thank the editor Thomas Ki{\o}rboe and the reviewer Shiway Wang for their helpful suggestions and comments during the review process. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 The Authors Limnology and Oceanography published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography",

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AU - Graeve, Martin

AU - A. Lange, Benjamin

AU - David, Carmen

AU - Peeken, Ilka

AU - Flores, Hauke

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the captain Uwe Pahl and the crew of the RV ‘Polarstern’ expedition IceArc (PS80) for their excellent support with work at sea. We thank Jan Andries Van Franeker (IMARES) for kindly providing the surface and under-ice trawl (SUIT) and Michiel Van Dorssen for technical support with work at sea. The SUIT was developed by IMARES with support from the Netherlands Ministry of EZ (project WOT-04-009-036) and the Netherlands Polar Program (projects ALW 851.20.011 and 866.13.009). We thank Martina Vortkamp, Dieter Janssen and Sandra Murawski for support with the laboratory analyses at the Alfred Wegener Institute. We thank Maren Voss for her help with the bulk stable isotope analyses (IOW Warnemünde). We thank Stefan Frickenhaus for support with the statistical analyses. Barbara Niehoff and Julia Ehrlich provided data on pelagic zooplankton abundances. This study is part of the Helmholtz Association Young Investigators Group Iceflux: Ice-ecosystem carbon flux in polar oceans (VH-NG-800). We thank the editor Thomas Kiørboe and the reviewer Shiway Wang for their helpful suggestions and comments during the review process. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 The Authors Limnology and Oceanography published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

PY - 2016/11/1

Y1 - 2016/11/1

N2 - To better predict ecological consequences of changing Arctic sea ice environments, we aimed to quantify the contribution of ice algae-produced carbon (αIce) to pelagic food webs in the central Arctic Ocean. Eight abundant under-ice fauna species were submitted to fatty acid (FA) analysis, bulk stable isotope analysis (BSIA) of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotopic ratios, and compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of δ13C in trophic marker FAs. A high mean contribution αIce was found in Apherusa glacialis and other sympagic (ice-associated) amphipods (BSIA: 87% to 91%, CSIA: 58% to 92%). The pelagic copepods Calanus glacialis and C. hyperboreus, and the pelagic amphipod Themisto libellula showed substantial, but varying αIce values (BSIA: 39% to 55%, CSIA: 23% to 48%). Lowest αIce mean values were found in the pteropod Clione limacina (BSIA: 30%, CSIA: 14% to 18%). Intra-specific differences in FA compositions related to two different environmental regimes were more pronounced in pelagic than in sympagic species. A comparison of mixing models using different isotopic approaches indicated that a model using δ13C signatures from both diatom-specific and dinoflagellate-specific marker FAs provided the most conservative estimate of αIce. Our results imply that ecological key species of the central Arctic Ocean thrive significantly on carbon synthesized by ice algae. Due to the close connectivity between sea ice and the pelagic food web, changes in sea ice coverage and ice algal production will likely have important consequences for food web functioning and carbon dynamics of the pelagic system.

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The importance of ice algae-produced carbon in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem: Food web relationships revealed by lipid and stable isotope analyses

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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