Biomass and associations of benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove (King George Island, Antarctica) related to depth and substrate.


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cwiencke [ at ] awi-bremerhaven.de

Abstract

The biomass of the benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove was studied along a depth profile across different substrates during Antarctic summer. Macroalgal associations were identified by means of cluster analysis. Twenty-two species have been found in the study site, approximately half of the species present in the area. This paucity may be ex-plained by the strong preponderance of the brown algae Desmarestia anceps and D. menziesii, which are able to exclude other species by competition for light. The mean bio-mass of all macroalgae was 1390 g DW/m2 ± 1787 g DW/m2. Nine macroalgal asso-ciations were identified with different preferences for depth, substrate and the degree of expo-sure. Overall, there was a tendency of macroalgae to grow on fine substrates with increasing depth. Species rich-ness decreased at 20m depth, probably due to limiting light conditions. The results are discussed with respect to previ-ous studies in East and West Antarctica.



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Published
Eprint ID
4025
DOI 10.1007/s003000000218

Cite as
Quartino, M. L. , Klöser, H. , Schloss, I. R. and Wiencke, C. (2001): Biomass and associations of benthic marine macroalgae from the inner Potter Cove (King George Island, Antarctica) related to depth and substrate. , Polar Biology 24, pp. 349-355 . doi: 10.1007/s003000000218


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