Little is known of the wider Antarctic distribution of the upper fast ice community now comprehensively described from McMurdo Sound. We determined the fast ice protist community at Davis Station, East Antarctica and compared it with that of McMurdo Sound. As at McMurdo Sound, Davis fast ice is characterised by extreme and transitory salinities (96-2.5 psu) and temperatures (-4.5 to -0.1°C) during the spring/summer transition. Both communities are dominated by Polarella glacialis (an autotrophic dinoflagellate), chrysophytes and their life cycle stages. Furthermore, the physical parameters of brine temperature and salinity at which these successions occurred approximated those of McMurdo Sound. The high degree of similarity between the communities from the geographically disparate locations indicates that this community type has a circum-Antarctic distribution. Confirming the areal extent and seasonality of this community type will assist in future predictions of sea ice productivity. © Springer-Verlag 2005.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Ecology
Research Field:	Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Coastal and estuarine systems and management
Objective Field:	Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems
UTAS Author:	Thomson, PG (Mr Paul Thomson)
UTAS Author:	McMinn, A (Professor Andrew McMinn)
UTAS Author:	Watson, M (Miss Michelle Watson)
ID Code:	42006
Year Published:	2006
Web of Science® Times Cited:	29
Deposited By:	IASOS
Deposited On:	2006-08-01
Last Modified:	2007-05-14
Downloads:	0