Search

The Antarctic represents the last of the world's still unexplored continents. Since 1985, Italy has sent nine expeditions to this region, making it one of the most scientifically active nations in the Antarctic. Italy has built a permanent base there and has begun a systematic collection of data and samples which will contribute to our understanding of this peculiar and extremely fascinating continent. Within this framework, Italy has also conducted research in a sub-Antarctic region of great scientific interest, the Straits of Magellan. This region, with its characteristic oceanography and biota, represents a transition point between the faunal assemblages of temperate and antarctic seas. This atlas on the zooplankton is an important contribution to the study of the faunal assemblages of the region of the Straits and will hopefully be followed by others. The initiative is part of a vast program launched by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Scientific and Technological Research to promote the exploration of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic seas, the aim of which is to preserve one of the Earth's largest and most undisturbed natural laboratories.

The Antarctic represents the last of the world's still unexplored continents. Since 1985, Italy has sent 10 expeditions to this region, three of those have been exclusively devoted to research on the marine ecology of the Ross Sea region. This volume presents a global picture of this research. It includes contributions on water mass characteristics, particulate organic matter and nutrient utilization, and physiological aspects of primary production. Further topics are zooplankton, krill and top predator interactions in relation to physical and biological parameters, ecological features of coastal fish communities and the spatio-temporal variability of benthic biocenoses.

This is the second of two volumes of the'Atlas of Marine Zooplankton - Straits of Magellan'. It constitutes an important contribution to the study of the faunal assemblages of the area where the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans mix, and is designed to allow rapid identification of the 39 species described, several of which are new to the region. This volume deals with the amphipods, euphausiids, mysids, ostracods and chaetognaths, their taxonomy, spatial distribution and abundances. Background data on their physical and biological environments is also provided. Emphasis is given to illustrations - most of them high-quality scanning electron micrographs plus drawings -, accompanied by brief taxonomic descriptions.