Description: In southern South America little is known about the biotic response of marine species to large scale climate variability during the Holocene. Fossil shells of the aragonitic bivalve Retrotapes exalbidus (previously called Eurhomalea) offer the possibility to investigate climate variability in the Beagle Channel and past seasonal dynamics of sea water temperature during the mid-to-late-Holocene. This selection is based on two reasons: extant R. exalbidus preserve annual increments in the outer shell layer (Lomovasky et al., 2002 J. Sea Research 48, 209-216); and, although not very common as other venerids, this species is well preserved in different Holocene marine outcrops along the channel. Holocene fossil shells of R. exalbidus were sectioned, polished, photographed and measured, and after examination three of them were selected for chemical sampling. In each case, one-half of the shell was used to resolve the annual growth bands and the other half was used for stable isotopes sampling. In addition, a fragment of each shell was used to C-14 dating performed in the Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory with the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technique. Ontogenetic ages were measured by counting the annual growth increments under a stereo microscope. Our results show differences between the three specimens. In the ontogenetic oldest individual (14 years), which gave a calibrated mean value age of 3839 BP, the δ18O values ranged from 1.53‰ to –1.16‰. The two other specimens (8 years), with calibrated mean ages of 5190 BP and 431 BP, gave δ18O values from 1.55‰ to 0.44‰ in the oldest specimen, and from 1.29‰ to 0.72‰, in the youngest one. Besides, we found variations in annual growth increment widths at different radiocarbon ages, probably correlated with environmental changes over the mid-to-late Holocene. We correlated the most positive δ18O values with winter and the most negative δ18O with summer. In addition, the summer values around 3800 yr BP are more negative than around 5000 years or 500 years BP. These findings correlate well with an episode of cooling at ca. 5000 BP, followed by a period of ameliorization (the Hypsithermal at ca. 4000 BP), and towards the end of the Holocene, at ca. 500 years BP, a new cooling event was recorded. This sclerochronological study of the growth patterns and the oxygen isotope ratios in fossil R. exalbidus shells demonstrated that this species clearly exhibited annual cycles showing seasonality patterns through the mid-to-late Holocene, providing an opportunity to analyze intra-seasonal time scales in the fossil record. This study was supported jointly by the CONICET and the DAAD and was made as part of the Scientific Visit of SG to the AWI and the international cooperation from MINCyT and BMBF to BL.

Description: The venerid Tawera gayi could be a suitable Holocene bioarchive for Southern South-America given that it is found in a wide distribution range from the Beagle Channel (54º 50´ S) to 33º S along the Pacific coast, and to the North Patagonia (36°S) in the South Atlantic. In the Beagle Channel, both extant T. gayi populations and shell beds of mid-Holocene origin can be found. On the other hand there is reliable life history information in modern populations (Lomovasky et al. 2005 J. Appl. Ichthyol. 21, 64-69), i.e. shell growth patterns and the confirmation of the annual periodicity of the translucent bands. Finally, the shells provide geochemical proxies, e.g., d18O for temperature reconstruction. In order to investigate climate variability in the Beagle Channel, the individual age, growth increments and isotopes analyses of modern and fossil shells of T. gayi were used. The shell cuts of T. gayi showed a pattern of alternating broad opaque and narrow translucent bands, which were confirmed by acetate peels too. In general, the translucent bands showed a pink to purple colour, similar to internal part of the shell. Both modern and fossil populations showed a maximum age of 13 years old. Radiocarbon dating revealed ages ranging between ca 3800 to 4400 years b.p. in the fossil shells corresponding to the Holocene Climate Optimum. The δ18O values obtained in fossil shells ranged from 1.316‰ to –0.064‰ We correlated the most positive δ18O values with winter forming the translucent bands and the most negative δ18O with summer. The comparison of the von Bertalanffy growth curve showed no difference in the H∞ between modern (32.50 mm; Confidence Interval (CI)=31.07, 33.94) and fossil (33.23 mm; CI=31.94, 34.51) populations, but higher values (p 〈 0.05) were observed in the growth rate k and t0 in the modern (0.37 (0.31, 0.42) and 1.12 (0.98, 1.25) respectively) than fossil shells (0.24 (0.21, 0.27) and 0.57 (0.44, 0.69) respectively). This study demonstrated that this species clearly exhibited annual cycles showing seasonality patterns from the mid-Holocene to the present with translucent bands corresponding to slow or halted growth formed in fall/winter; the growth rate was lower during the past warm epochs than the present possible related to a different productivity in the Channel and/or a lower metabolic rate of the clams exposed to a higher temperature.

Description: Amiantis purpurata is a typical warm-temperate water species distributed from southern Brazil to northern Patagonia, Argentina. Recent and well preserved fossil specimens were recovered from San Matías Gulf in northern Patagonia. Holocene (shell age 3630 ±100 years BP) and interglacial Pleistocene (MIS 5, 100 ka years BP) marine sediments were used for a comparative analysis of stable isotopic profiles (δ18O; δ13C). The values range of Pleistocene A. purpurata was from -0,93‰ to 0,85‰ for δ18O and from -1,02‰ to 1,9‰ for δ13C. Holocene shell was from -0,34‰ to 1,13‰ for δ18O and from 1,45‰ to 2,44‰ for δ13C. And Recent shell was from -0,66‰ to 1,56‰ for δ18O and from 0,7‰ to 2,6‰ for δ13C. The δ18O values indicate warmer waters in Pleistocene compared to Holocene and Recent. The intra-annual δ18O shell temperature is higher today (Δδ18ORecent=2,22‰) compared to the Holocene (Δδ18OHolocene=1,47‰) and the Pleistocene (Δδ18OPleistocene=1,76‰). Pleistocene δ13C range value was the widest (Δδ13CPleistocene=2,92‰), but Holocene (Δδ13CHolocene=0,98‰) and Recent (Δδ13CRecent=1,9‰) values were tighter and more positive than Pleistocene. This could be explained by changes in ocean circulation since San Matías Gulf would has been formed approaching 12 ka years BP (after MIS 5, Ponce et al. 2011 Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 103, 363–379). These shells showed a clear marine environment but with a difference in sea surface temperature and ocean circulation through geological time in northern Patagonia. Our findings indicate that A. purpurata is a suitable candidate for detailed paleoenvironment reconstructions in North Patagonia. Further analyses will show whether some notable events that occurred during the Holocene, such as the Neoglacial (early Holocene), the Hypsithermal (Middle Holocene) and the Little Ice Age (Late Holocene) have been recorded in fossil A. purpurata shells.

Description: Since the 1970s tremendous changes have been observed in the Arctic region. As such, the surface air temperature within this region has increased twice the global average and according to existing climate model predictions, this trend will continue in the future (IPCC, 2007). However, interpretation of such transformation, which results from greenhouse warming, is still difficult. This is due to a lack of knowledge about the influence of multi-annual to decadal climate variations and the fact that climatic data from this region are usually temporally and spatially biased. Therefore, a better understanding and further research on the effects and predictability of climate variability is needed. We examined the growth variability in shells of the bivalve Arctica islandica which is affected by environmental factors, mainly temperature or food supply. We compare shells from two sampling sites, the northern Norwegian coast and Kola Peninsula coast (SW Barents Sea). Both localities are in the realm of the Norwegian Coastal Current (after crossing the border to Russia it is called the Murman Coastal Current). For the investigation of the annual and inter-annual growth variability all collected shells were cut parallel to the line of strongest growth (LSG) and 3 mm thick-sections were attached to a glass slide. After grinding and polishing, the cross-sections were stained in Mutvei´s solution. Annual growth bands were identified and measured. Samples for the stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis and the seasonality approach were taken using a hand drill and the milling technique. As our prime objective we compared the shell growth of the Norwegian and the Russian populations and determined the external factors controlling the annual shell growth variability in A. islandica. Furthermore, the shells from both populations have been checked for decadal oscillations (NAO? ACRI?). Finally, stable oxygen isotope ratio (δ18O) profiles have been measured to identify seasonal signals and to reconstruct regional water temperature variability at a sub-annual level.

Description: Biological traits analysis is one of the most auspicious approaches to study the ecological functioning in marine ecosystems and provides a mechanistic link to ecosystem processes and properties. We used a Biological trait analysis to examine a dataset of 334 macrofaunal species that were collected at 4 long-term stations in the North Sea between 1969-2011. This data include seventeen biological traits related to life history (e.g. reproductive type) and behavior (e.g. feeding habit) of macrofuna species. In order to include all possible attributes of species, these traits were broken down into seventy-two categories. The affinities of the species to the categories were fuzzy coded with a scoring range of 0 to 3 (0= no affinity, 1= low affinity, 2=moderate affinity and 3=high association of taxon with the trait category). Missing values were supplemented by using information from the species in the nearest taxonomic level. If the affinity of a species to a category was not identified and there was no information available for the evaluation, a score of 0 was given for all the modalities associated with that species.

Description: Within the next few decades, large underwater structures of thousands of wind turbines in the northern European shelf seas will substantially increase the amount of habitat available for mobile demersal megafauna. As a first indication of the possible effects of this large scale habitat creation on faunal stocks settling on hard substrata, we compared selected taxa of the mobile demersal megafauna (decapods and fish) associated with the foundation of an offshore research platform (a wind-power foundation equivalent) with those of five shipwrecks and different areas of soft bottoms in the southern German Bight, North Sea. When comparing the amount of approximately 5000 planned wind-power foundations (covering 5.1 _ 106 m2 of bottom area) with the existing number of at least 1000 shipwrecks (covering 1.2 _ 106 m2 of bottom area), it becomes clear that the southern North Sea will provide about 4.3 times more available artificial hard substratum habitats than currently available. With regard to the fauna found on shipwrecks, on soft substrata and on the investigated wind-power foundation, we predict that the amount of added hard substrata will allow the stocks of substrata-limited mobile demersal hard bottom species to increase by 25e165% in that area. The fauna found at the offshore platform foundations is very similar to that at shipwrecks. Megafauna abundances at the foundations, however, are lower compared to those at the highly fractured wrecks and are irregularly scattered over the foundations. The upper regions of the platform construction (5 and 15 m depth) were only sparsely colonized by mobile fauna, the anchorages, however, more densely. The faunal assemblages from the shipwrecks and the foundations, respectively, as well as from the soft bottoms clearly differed from each other. We predict that new wind-power foundations will support the spread of hard bottom fauna into soft bottom areas with low wreck densities.

Description: Traditionally, the rationale for energy flow studies was found in the elucidation of energy transfers within ecosystems or within the practical context of the rational management of resources, but it is now widely recognised that its scope embodies almost all biology, including the field of population dynamics and evolutionary studies. Here, we first describe conceptual models of energy and mass budgets at the level of the individual, the population and the community. However, the emphasis is on the next part in which the practicalities of measuring the various components of these budgets in the marine zoobenthic community are described in detail. The measurement of, among other things, ingestion, absorption, defaecation, excretion, growth, reproduction and respiration is discussed. Finally, attention is paid to the estimation of secondary production of benthic populations and to community-level modelling methods.

Description: At the CCAMLR meeting in 2012, the Commission welcomed the offer of Germany to take the lead in developing a Weddell Sea MPA for consideration in 2014. Subsequently, the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection tasked the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research to compile and analyse scientific data for identifying areas which require particular protection in the Weddell Sea. Work under this project started mid-April 2013. This progress report is based on WG-EMM-13/22 which was submitted to WG-EMM 2013 in Bremerhaven, Germany. Germany intends to update the Scientific Committee on the actual state of our project, particularly on the main proceeds of a national data workshop held in Bremerhaven early September 2013. The main objectives of this document are (i) to propose the planning area of our evaluation study, (ii) to provide an update on the data situation, (iii) to draw attention to the forthcoming (early April 2014) international expert workshop on the planning of a Weddell Sea MPA.

Description: Currently Arctic ecosystems seem to change much faster than new research and expeditions can be planned, conducted and evaluated. Under these dynamic conditions, it is almost impossible to establish a baseline that represents pre-change system state. Our initiative of a ”pan-Arctic benthic database” intends to overcome this problem by combining all available biological and ecological data (published and unpublished) in one geo-referenced database to get a better view on the whole Arctic biosphere and its dynamics. We aim at understanding benthic structures (community composition, biodiversity, food web) and processes (production, metabolism) on large scales and at modeling the impact of environmental drivers on the benthic system. Here we demonstrate this approach with respect to the rather poorly known central Arctic benthic system, based on benthic macrofauna data derived from Arctic POLARSTERN expeditions during the last 20 years. We show the spatial distribution of basic benthic community parameters (biomass, biodiversity), of community production and how these parameters are distributet between the major taxonomic groups.