Victoria Land Latitudinal Gradient Project: Benthic Marine Habitat Characterization

University Corporation At Monterey Bay, Seaside CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is part of a multi-national and multidisciplinary program in Antarctica, the Victoria Land Latitudinal Gradient Project (VLLGP), that includes scientists from both the Italian Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) and the Antarctica New Zealand research program (ANZ). The overall goal of the VLLGP is to take a latitudinal gradient approach to ecosystem studies in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Personnel from the California State University Monterey Bay Seafloor Mapping Lab (SFML) will participate in a 20-day PNRA cruise on the R/V Italica during January 2004. The specific goals of the Italian/U.S. collaboration are to: 1) identify the environmental gradients linked to latitude and to relate community transitions along the Victoria Land Coast to climatic, geomorphologic and oceanographic features;. 2) identify biochemical, physiological and other adaptive responses of representative organisms;. 3) quantify biodiversity patterns and test the hypothesis of "progressive emergence" of marine assemblages with latitude; and 4) use biotic changes associated with steep environmental gradients to predict potential effects of climate change. The role of the SFML will be to use high-resolution acoustic remote sensing (multibeam and sidescan sonar) and spatial data modeling tools in the identification and characterization of benthic habitats and species/habitat associations along the gradient from 0-200 m water depth. Accurate mapping and classification of habitat types within each study area will be critical to the selection of comparable sampling sites if valid community comparisons are to be made along the latitudinal gradient. Since the Ross Sea coast extends across one of the longest latitudinal gradients in the Antarctic (15 degrees), this study offers a unique opportunity for predicting and establishing a baseline to detect environmental and community responses to global change and anthropogenic disturbance. The broader impacts of this work include not only efforts to foster research, logistic and data management collaborations among scientists from different disciplines and national programs; but will also provide the opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in the research.