cnrs I international 30 | In Images magazine This experimental approach, the first-ever undertaken at such high latitudes, will help better identify the effects of climate change on the delicate balance between benthic and pelagic environments. “In normal times, the benthos, which includes bivalve mollusc species living on the fjord floor, gets much of its nutrients from sea ice algae that become detached from the inner surface of the sea ice,” Morata explains. “Yet increasing sea ice melt is making the ice algae scarce, forcing the benthos to fall back on other nutrients, such as fecal pellets from small crustaceans called copepods.” Will these substitutes be enough to compensate for the disappearance of sea ice algae? This is one of the many questions facing the ECOTAB mission. The stakes are high, since in the Arctic, benthic organisms are the basic food resource of a large number of marine mammal species. 01. Effect of Climate Change on the Arctic Benthos. The project brings together researchers from France, Germany, Norway, Canada, Spain, and Poland. It receives funding from France’s National Research Agency (ANR), and logistic support from the French polar institute IPEV (Institut Polaire Paul Emile Victor). 02. Laboratoire des sciences de l’environnement marin (CNRS / Université de Bretagne occidentale / Ifremer / IRD). Contact i nformation: LEMAR , Plouzané. Nathalie Morata > nathalie.morata@univ-brest.fr pelagic. Refers to organisms living in the water column above the sea floor where the benthos is found. A photo gallery on the ECOTA B mission can be viewed on the online version 11 of the magazine: > www.cnrs.fr/cnrsmagazine 08 09 10 © photos 8-9-10 : e. ami ce/CNRS Photothèque 08 Scientists measure the pH of seawater collected from the depths of Kongsfjorden as soon as the samples are brought up onto the deck of the Teisten. 09 Back in the laboratory, the seawater is filtered to measure its chlorophyll content. This value will be used to determine the amount of phytoplankton at the base of the aquatic food web. 10 During the four field campaigns carried out between 2012 and 2013, the ECOTA B researchers collected a large number of samples of seawater and sediments. 11 As its name suggests, Calanus glacialis is a small copepod crustacean typical of Arctic marine areas. At the bottom of the entire Arctic food chain, this species may see its numbers decline due to the impact of Arctic Ocean warming. © A. Auber t
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