Climate change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos
- Aronson, Richard B.
- Thatje, Sven
- Clarke, Andrew
- Peck, Lloyd S.
- Blake, Daniel B.
- Wilga, Cheryl D.
- Seibel, Brad A.
DOIAbstract
Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in structure and function compared to shallow-water communities elsewhere. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are generally the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft-substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold tempe...
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