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The Antarctic benthos is rich in biodiversity, with many species being endemic to the Southern Ocean. Multiple factors such as oceanic currents, glacial cycles and reproductive life stages have been attributed to the distribution of benthic dwelling invertebrates around the continent. The sea spider (Pycnogonida) Nymphon australe is a paternal brooder, which lacks a pelagic planktonic life stage. Typically brooding is assumed to suggest limited dispersal capabilities. Here we investigated the genetic structure of N. australe, a highly abundant pycnogonid species in the Southern Ocean to test assumptions of a documented circumpolar distribution. Previous studies with mitochondrial data have revealed that N. australe has high genetic diversity, limited gene flow, as well as distinct geographic structure. To resolve the phylogeographic structure of the circumpolar N. australe from the Antarctic continental shelf, we used 3RAD single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 111 individuals sampled from ten different, circumpolar geographic regions including the Western Antarctic Peninsula, Ross Sea, Weddell Sea, and Eastern Antarctica. Analyses revealed populations to have distinct regional populations with strong geographic structuring observed by locality and suggest the possibility that N. australe may be a species complex in the Southern Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The calving of A‐68, the 5,800‐km2, 1‐trillion‐ton iceberg shed from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in July 2017, is one of over 10 significant ice‐shelf loss events in the past few decades resulting from rapid warming around the Antarctic Peninsula. The rapid thinning, retreat, and collapse of ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula are harbingers of warming effects around the entire continent. Ice shelves cover more than 1.5 million km2 and fringe 75% of Antarctica's coastline, delineating the primary connections between the Antarctic continent, the continental ice, and the Southern Ocean. Changes in Antarctic ice shelves bring dramatic and large‐scale modifications to Southern Ocean ecosystems and continental ice movements, with global‐scale implications. The thinning and rate of future ice‐shelf demise is notoriously unpredictable, but models suggest increased shelf‐melt and calving will become more common. To date, little is known about sub‐ice‐shelf ecosystems, and our understanding of ecosystem change following collapse and calving is predominantly based on responsive science once collapses have occurred. In this review, we outline what is known about (a) ice‐shelf melt, volume loss, retreat, and calving, (b) ice‐shelf‐associated ecosystems through sub‐ice, sediment‐core, and pre‐collapse and post‐collapse studies, and (c) ecological responses in pelagic, sympagic, and benthic ecosystems. We then discuss major knowledge gaps and how science might address these gaps. This article is categorized under:Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Modeling Species and Community Interactions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagicmicrobial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic waters have been well-studied, there are fewer investigations of benthic communities and most have a focused geographic range. We sampled surface sediment from 24 sites across a 5500 km region of Western Antarctica (covering the Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea) to examine relationships between microbial communities and sediment geochemistry. Sequencing of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes showed microbial communities in sediments from the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and Western Antarctica (WA), including the Ross, Amundsen, and Bellingshausen Seas, could be distinguished by correlations with organic matter concentrations and stable isotope fractionation (total organic carbon; TOC, total nitrogen; TN, and δ 13C). Overall, samples from the AP were higher in nutrient content (TOC, TN, and NH4+ ) and communities in these samples had higher relative abundances of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) classified as the diatom, Chaetoceros, a marine cercozoan, and four OTUs classified as Flammeovirgaceae or Flavobacteria. As these OTUs were strongly correlated with TOC, the data suggests the diatoms could be a source of organic matter and the Bacteroidetes and cercozoan are grazers that consume the organic matter. Additionally, samples from WA have lower nutrients and were dominated by Thaumarchaeota, which could be related to their known ability to thrive as lithotrophs. This study documents the largest analysis of benthic microbial communities to date in the Southern Ocean, representing almost half the continental shoreline of Antarctica, and documents trophic interactions and coupling of pelagic and benthic communities. Our results indicate potential modifications in carbon sequestration processes related to change in community composition, identifying a prospective mechanism that links climate change to carbon availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antarctica has a complex and multifaceted geologic and oceanographic history that has influenced and shaped patterns of marine invertebrate diversity. This evolutionary history consists of major events on a wide range of time scales such as the formation of the Antarctic Polar Front (25–41 million years ago) to repeated glacial cycles during the past million years. These factors variably influenced genetic connectivity of fauna to produce a highly unique, but incredibly diverse marine community. Use of molecular phylogeographic methods is creating the need to revise our understanding of Antarctic patterns of biodiversity. In particular, almost every phylogeographic study carried out to date, suggests that the biodiversity of Antarctic marine shelf fauna is considerably underestimated. In discovering this diversity, some lineages (i.e., cryptic lineages) show no diagnostic morphological differences whereas others (i.e., unrecognized species) show differences that were unknown to science. The sea star genus Odontaster is among the best-studied of Antarctic invertebrate groups. Nonetheless, two unrecognized lineages were recently discovered along the Antarctic Peninsula, which is one of the best-studied regions in Antarctica. Herein, we elucidate the molecular and morphological uniqueness of these species and name them O. roseus and O. pearsei. The latter is in honor of John Pearse, an Antarctic biologist, as well as past President and long-time member of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With threats to biodiversity posed by anthropogenic impacts and global climate change, characterization of existing flora and fauna is increasingly important, but continues to focus predominantly on easily studied taxa. In the Southern Ocean, levels of species richness remain relatively unexplored due to remoteness and difficulties of sampling the region. Nemerteans (proboscis worms; ribbon worms) are unusually abundant and occasionally conspicuous in the Antarctic region. Despite being routinely collected, difficulties in preserving voucher material, morphological limitations, and shortage of taxonomic expertise have hindered our understanding of nemertean diversity. To assess patterns of diversity, we examined a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene from larval and adult nemerteans ( n = 192) from 53 sites along the western Antarctic Peninsula. We found 20 distinct lineages having an uncorrected genetic distance ( p) greater than 5% to the nearest sister taxon or group, 19 of which have not been genetically characterized in previous studies. Additionally, the putatively dominant adult species in the region, Parborlasia corrugatus, was found to comprise only 4.3% of larvae sampled ( n = 3 out of 69 samples from 12 locations). Of 47 nemertean species recorded from Antarctic waters, 20 are heteronemerteans and therefore could have a pelagic pilidium larval phase. These results suggest that Antarctic biodiversity is underestimated, and that unknown species of nemerteans await description from Southern Ocean waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-ocean environments provide few obvious barriers to the dispersal of marine organisms. Major currents and/or environmental gradients potentially impede gene flow. One system hypothesized to form an open-ocean dispersal barrier is the Antarctic Polar Front, an area characterized by marked temperature change, deep water, and the high-flow Antarctic Circumpolar current. Despite these potential isolating factors, several invertebrate species occur in both regions, including the broadcast-spawning nemertean worm Parborlasia corrugatus. To empirically test for the presence of an open-ocean dispersal barrier, we sampled P. corrugatus and other nemerteans from southern South America, Antarctica, and the sub-Antarctic islands. Diversity was assessed by analyzing mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequence data with Bayesian inference andtcs haplotype network analysis. Appropriate neutrality tests were also employed. Although our results indicate a single well-mixed lineage in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic, no evidence for recent gene flow was detected between this population and South American P. corrugatus. Thus, even though P. corrugatus can disperse over large geographical distances, physical oceanographic barriers (i.e. Antarctic Polar Front and Antarctic Circumpolar Current) between continents have likely restricted dispersal over evolutionary time. Genetic distances and haplotype network analysis between South American and Antarctic/sub-Antarctic P. corrugatus suggest that these two populations are possibly two cryptic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the life history of the Antarctic sea star Labidiaster annulatus. This species is characterized by large, conspicuous crossed pedicellariae, and it is considered an active and opportunistic predator that commonly preys upon euphausiids, amphipods and small fish in the water column. The distribution of Labidiaster annulatus include the Antarctic, Kerguelen, South Orkney, South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia and Shag Rocks. Labidiasteridae, the recognized family of the species is unlikely to be monophyletic.