Abstract
The abundance and biomass of sympagic meiofauna were studied during three cruises to the Antarctic and one summer expedition to the central Arctic Ocean. Ice samples were collected by ice coring and algal pigment concentrations and meiofauna abundances were determined for entire cores. Median meiofauna abundances for the expeditions ranged from 4.4 to 139.5 × 103 organisms m−2 in Antarctic sea ice and accounted for 40.6 × 103 organisms m−2 in Arctic multi-year sea ice. While most taxa (ciliates, foraminifers, turbellarians, crustaceans) were common in both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, nematodes and rotifers occurred only in the Arctic. Based on the calculated biomass, the potential meiofauna ingestion rates were determined by applying an allometric model. For both hemispheres, daily and yearly potential ingestion rates were below the production values of the ice algal communities, pointing towards non-limited feeding conditions for ice meiofauna year-round.
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Accepted: 29 March 1999
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Gradinger, R. Integrated abundance and biomass of sympagic meiofauna in Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. Polar Biol 22, 169–177 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050407
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050407