Diversity and abundance of isopod fauna associated with holdfasts of the brown alga Himantothallus grandifolius in Admiralty Bay, Antarctic

Abstract

Fifteen species of isopods, representing 10 families, were recorded on holdfasts of the brown alga Himantothallus grandifolius. Material was collected in the 15-75 m depth range during the austral summer of 1979/80. The isopod community was dominated by Caecognathia antarctica (mean density 12.4 ± 13.1 ind./100 ml) followed by Cymodocella tubicauda (mean density 0.7 ± 2.1 ind./100 ml). Mean total density of isopods reached the value of 16.1 ± 14.0 ind./100 ml. The comparison with the other studies showed that hold− fasts are inhabited by a distinctive isopod community that differs from the isopod fauna as− sociated with soft bottom of Admiralty Bay.

New records of isopod species of the Antarctic Specially Managed Area No. 1, Admiralty Bay, South Shetland Islands

“…Generally, the species richness of isopods in Admiralty Bay is high, especially when taking into account the small size of this basin. Currently 441 species of Isopoda are recorded in the whole Southern Ocean (De Broyer et al 2011), while the number of species found in the Admiralty Bay, together with our present results equals 99 (Arnaud et al 1986;Presler 1986;Teodorczyk and Wägele 1994;Zemko and Brix 2011;Zemko and Kaiser 2012;Siciński et al 2012;Zemko et al 2015). This further highlights the fact that this bay is an important biodiversity hot spot for the benthic fauna.…”

“…Differences in species composition were observed for example in the case of polychaetes studied with the use of a van Veen grab and bottom trawl in the Admiralty Bay (Siciński 2004;Pabis and Sicinski 2010). Until now most of the data on the isopod fauna in Admiralty Bay based on van Veen grab samples collected at point scale or samples collected from kelp holdfasts (Zemko et al 2015). On the other hand this basin is also undoubtedly very well studied, and this fact results in a more comprehensive list of taxa.…”

“…Isopods are among the most speciose groups of benthic macrofauna of the Southern Ocean (De Broyer et al 2011) and third most speciose group of benthic macrofauna of Admiralty Bay (Arnaud et al 1986;Presler 1986;Teodorczyk and Wägele 1994;Zemko and Brix 2012;Siciński et al 2012;Zemko and Kaiser 2012;Zemko et al 2015Zemko et al , 2017. However, recent studies of the soft-bottom isopod communities demonstrated that despite the very large sampling effort the species accumulation curves are still steep and a comprehensive evaluation of the isopod species richness in this basin is still far from being complete (Zemko et al 2017).…”

Low abundance and high species richness: the structure of the soft-bottom isopod fauna of a West Antarctic glacial fjord

“…So far, a total of 99 species of isopod crustaceans have been recorded in the basin (Arnaud et al 1986;Presler 1986;Teodorczyk and Wagele 1994;Zemko and Kaiser 2012;Siciński et al 2012;Zemko et al 2015;Zemko unpublished results). Isopods are the third most speciose macrofaunal group in the Admiralty Bay, following the Amphipoda (172 species) and Polychaeta (162 species) ).…”

“…The Bay has therefore been suggested as a good choice for a monitoring site . Earlier studies analyzing the isopod fauna of the basin were focused on taxonomy (Teodorczyk and Wägele 1994;Zemko and Brix 2011;Zemko and Kaiser 2012), necrophagous assemblages (Presler 1986), the fauna associated with kelp holdfasts (Zemko et al 2015) and shallow nearglacial coves ). In addition, analyzed the macroinvertebrate biomass in the Bay.…”