GLOBEC: Winter Ecology of Larval Krill: Quantifying their Interaction with the Pack Ice Habitat

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the under-ice distribution and abundance of larval and juvenile krill. The physiological condition of the krill associated with sea ice of differing food quality and quantity will be assessed. This research will be coordinated with krill components that focus on adults in the water column with the goal of understanding the overall age-specific dynamics of krill in winter. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.