Camille Moreau

Parameter Estimations of Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) Model over the Life History of a Key Antarctic Species: The Antarctic Sea Star Odontaster validus Koehler, 1906.

Marine organisms in Antarctica are adapted to an extreme ecosystem including extremely stable temperatures and strong seasonality due to changes in day length. It is now largely accepted that Southern Ocean organisms are particularly vulnerable to global warming with some regions already being challenged by a rapid increase of temperature. Climate change affects both the physical and biotic components of marine ecosystems and will have an impact on the distribution and population dynamics of Antarctic marine organisms. To predict and assess the effect of climate change on marine ecosystems a more comprehensive knowledge of the life history and physiology of key species is urgently needed. In this study we estimate the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model parameters for key benthic Antarctic species the sea star Odontaster validus using available information from literature and experiments. The DEB theory is unique in capturing the metabolic processes of an organism through its entire life cycle as a function of temperature and food availability. The DEB model allows for the inclusion of the different life history stages, and thus, becomes a tool that can be used to model lifetime feeding, growth, reproduction, and their responses to changes in biotic and abiotic conditions. The DEB model presented here includes the estimation of reproduction handling rules for the development of simultaneous oocyte cohorts within the gonad. Additionally it links the DEB model reserves to the pyloric caeca an organ whose function has long been ascribed to energy storage. Model parameters described a slowed down metabolism of long living animals that mature slowly. O. validus has a large reserve that—matching low maintenance costs- allow withstanding long periods of starvation. Gonad development is continuous and individual cohorts developed within the gonads grow in biomass following a power function of the age of the cohort. The DEB model developed here for O. validus allowed us to increase our knowledge on the ecophysiology of this species, providing new insights on the role of food availability and temperature on its life cycle and reproduction strategy.

Amundsen Sea Mollusca from the BIOPEARL II expedition

Abstract Information regarding the molluscs in this dataset is based on the epibenthic sledge (EBS) samples collected during the cruise BIOPEARL II / JR179 RRS James Clark Ross in the austral summer 2008. A total of 35 epibenthic sledge deployments have been performed at five locations in the Amundsen Sea at Pine Island Bay (PIB) and the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) at depths ranging from 476 to 3501m. This presents a unique and important collection for the Antarctic benthic biodiversity assessment as the Amundsen Sea remains one of the least known regions in Antarctica. Indeed the work presented in this dataset is based on the first benthic samples collected with an EBS in the Amundsen Sea. However we assume that the data represented are an underestimation of the real fauna present in the Amundsen Sea. In total 9261 specimens belonging to 6 classes 55 families and 97 morphospecies were collected. The species richness per station varied between 6 and 43. Gastropoda were most species rich 50 species followed by Bivalvia (37), Aplacophora (5), Scaphopoda (3) and one from each of Polyplacophora and Monoplacophora.

The Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS): a ten-year appraisal

Abstract The Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS) is a marine species database that manages an authoritative taxonomic list of species occurring in the Southern Ocean. RAMS links with several other initiatives managing biogeographic or genomics information. The current paper aims to briefly present RAMS and provides an updated snapshot of its contents, in the form of a DarwinCore checklist (available through http://ipt.biodiversity.aq/resource.do?r=rams) and illustrative barplots. Moreover, this article presents a ten year appraisal (since the creation of RAMS). This appraisal first focuses on RAMS bibliometrics. We observed that RAMS was cited (Google Scholar) in 50 distinct publications among which 32 were peer-reviewed in 18 different journals. Three journals (Antarctic Science, Polar Biology, ZooKeys) represent almost 40% of these peer-review publications. The second appraisal focuses on the evolution of new RAMS records. We observed an important decrease in data additions since 2011. As a case study, we focused on an original dataset for a specific group (Asteroidea, Echinodermata). It appears that around one hundred species of asteroids are lacking in RAMS despite the relatively high availability of these data. This suggests that the users’ community (or collaborative projects such as AquaRES) could be helpful in order to maintain the RAMS database over the long term.

East Weddell Sea echinoids from the JR275 expedition

Abstract Information regarding the echinoids in this dataset is based on the Agassiz Trawl (AGT) and epibenthic sledge (EBS) samples collected during the British Antarctic Survey cruise JR275 on the RRS James Clark Ross in the austral summer 2012. A total of 56 (1 at the South Orkneys and 55 in the Eastern Weddell Sea) Agassiz Trawl and 18 (2 at the South Orkneys and 16 in the Eastern Weddell Sea) epibenthic sledge deployments were performed at depths ranging from ~280 to ~2060 m. This presents a unique collection for the Antarctic benthic biodiversity assessment of an important group of benthic invertebrates. In total 487 specimens belonging to six families, 15 genera, and 22 morphospecies were collected. The species richness per station varied between one and six. Total species richness represents 27% of the 82 echinoid species ever recorded in the Southern Ocean (David et al. 2005b, Pierrat et al. 2012, Saucède et al. 2014). The Cidaridae (sub-family Ctenocidarinae) and Schizasteridae are the two most speciose families in the dataset. They comprise seven and nine species respectively. This is illustrative of the overall pattern of echinoid diversity in the Southern Ocean where 65% of Antarctic species belong to the families Schizasteridae and Cidaridae (Pierrat et al. 2012).

Southern Ocean Asteroidea: a proposed update for the Register of Antarctic Marine Species.

Abstract Background The Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS, De Broyer et al. 2015) is the regional component of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board 2015) in the Southern Ocean. It has been operating for the last ten years, with a special effort devoted towards its completion after the International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-2008, in the framework of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, 2005 - 2010). Its objective is to offer free and open access to a complete register of all known species living in the Southern Ocean, building a workbench of the present taxonomic knowledge for that region. The Antarctic zone defined by this dynamic and community-based tool has been investigated with a particular interest. The Sub-Antarctic zone was a secondary objective during the establishment of the RAMS and is still lacking the impulse of the scientific community for some taxa. New information In the present study, more than 13,000 occurrences records of Asteroidea (Echinodermata) have been compiled within the RAMS area of interest and checked against the RAMS species list of sea stars, using WoRMS Taxon Match tool. Few mismatches (basionym mistakes : i.e. original name misspelled or incorrect) were found within the existing list and 97 unregistered species are actually occurring within the RAMS boundaries. After this update, the number of Asteroidea species was increased by around 50%, now reaching 295 accepted species.

Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Asteroidea database

Abstract The present dataset is a compilation of georeferenced occurrences of asteroids (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) in the Southern Ocean. Occurrence data south of 45°S latitude were mined from various sources together with information regarding the taxonomy, the sampling source and sampling sites when available. Records from 1872 to 2016 were thoroughly checked to ensure the quality of a dataset that reaches a total of 13,840 occurrences from 4,580 unique sampling events. Information regarding the reproductive strategy (brooders vs. broadcasters) of 63 species is also made available. This dataset represents the most exhaustive occurrence database on Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic asteroids.

Benthic biodiversity in the South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf Marine Protected Area

ABSTRACT The South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf (SOISS) Marine Protected Area (MPA) was the first MPA to be designated entirely within the high seas and is managed under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). To assist with research and monitoring of the MPA, an international expedition (‘SO-AntEco’) was undertaken in the austral summer of 2016 to contribute towards a better understanding of selected benthic habitats within the region. The benthic assemblages of the SOISS MPA region were found to be strongly correlated with the texture of the seafloor, where hard substrates hosted a greater number of individuals, taxa and biomass with a dominance of filter feeding vulnerable marine ecosystem (VME) taxa, and soft sediments were dominated mostly by deposit feeders. Substantial differences in the abundance of VME taxa were found between sampling gears (shallow underwater camera system and Agassiz trawl). We conclude that camera systems may be more suitable for VME assessments, but additional trawling is advisable for collecting all faunal types and for higher taxonomic resolution. The designation of VME locations based purely on large scale geomorphic classification is not advisable, due to small scale variation in substrate and other local physical influences.