Food web structure in a rapidly changing coastal environment: the West Antarctic Peninsula

Voisin, Anthony; Lepoint, Gilles; Danis, Bruno; Guillaumot, Charlène; Kristiansen, Alix; Pasotti, Francesca; Saucède, Thomas; Michel, Loïc

doi:10.26496/bjz.2025.201

Download

Article (Scientific journals)

Food web structure in a rapidly changing coastal environment: the West Antarctic Peninsula

Voisin, Anthony; Lepoint, Gilles; Danis, Bruno et al.

2025 • In Belgian Journal of Zoology, 155, p. 93-119

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi Dataset

Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2268/336448

DOI
10.26496/bjz.2025.201

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

BJZ_155_2025-093-119_Voisin_a.pdf

Author postprint (4.25 MB)

Download

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to

RIS BibTex APA Chicago Permalink X Linkedin

Details

Keywords :

stable isotopes; benthic communities; Southern Ocean; tophic ecology

Abstract :

[en] The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is one of the most rapidly changing regions in the world. Steep environmental gradients in sea ice cover and glacier melting are observed, but much remains to be documented regarding the impact of these differences on biological communities and ecosystem processes. Here, we study how environmental variability impacts trophic interactions and ecological habitats of benthic communities along the WAP. During the Belgica 121 expedition, dominant benthic mega- and macrofauna, as well as primary producers, were sampled in multiple stations featuring different environmental conditions around the Gerlache Strait. Stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur were measured and combined in an isotope niche analysis (SIBER). Our results suggest that changes in environmental features, notably ice-related conditions, could alter food source availability and organic matter fluxes towards benthic organisms. Isotopic compositions of abundant species were more variable in stations with stronger ice-related disturbance. Besides variability in isotopic baseline, this result could possibly also be linked to the use of a wider diversity of food sources (niche expansion) in stations affected by different ice-related conditions. Overall, our findings provide important insights towards understanding the interplay between environmental conditions and ecological habits of benthic consumers along the WAP.

Research Center/Unit :

FOCUS - Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch - ULiège

Disciplines :

Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Zoology
Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Voisin, Anthony ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch (FOCUS)

Lepoint, Gilles ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Biologie, Ecologie et Evolution

Danis, Bruno

Guillaumot, Charlène

Kristiansen, Alix

Pasotti, Francesca

Saucède, Thomas

Michel, Loïc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Biologie, Ecologie et Evolution > Systématique et diversité animale

Language :

English

Title :

Food web structure in a rapidly changing coastal environment: the West Antarctic Peninsula

Publication date :

01 October 2025

Journal title :

Belgian Journal of Zoology

ISSN :

0777-6276

eISSN :

2295-0451

Publisher :

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)

Volume :

155

Pages :

93-119

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Development Goals :

14. Life below water

Additional URL :

https://belgianjournalofzoology.eu/BJZ/article/download/201/304

Name of the research project :

RECTO project (contract nr. BR/154/A1/RECTO)

Funders :

BELSPO - Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

Funding number :

(contract nr. BR/154/A1/RECTO)

Data Set :

https://doi.org/10.48361/ptbggs

Available on ORBi :

since 01 October 2025

Statistics

Number of views

42 (3 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

47 (0 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Ahn I.-Y. (1993). Enhanced particle flux through the biodeposition by the Antarctic suspension-feeding bivalve Laternula elliptica in Marian Cove, King George Island. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 171: 75–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(93)90141-a
Amsler C.D., Amsler M.O., McClintock J.B. & Baker B.J. (2009). Filamentous algal endophytes in macrophytic Antarctic algae: prevalence in hosts and palatability to mesoherbivores. Phycologia 48: 324–334. https://doi.org/10.2216/08-79.1
Amsler C.D., Amsler M.O., Klein A.G., Galloway A.W., Iken K., Mcclintock J.B., Heiser S., Lowe A.T., Schram J.B. & Whippo R. (2023). Strong correlations of sea ice cover with macroalgal cover along the Antarctic Peninsula: Ramifications for present and future benthic communities. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 11 (1): e00020. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00020
Barnes D.K. (1999). The influence of ice on polar nearshore benthos. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 79, 401-407. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315498000514
Barnes D.K. & Conlan K.E. (2007). Disturbance, colonization and development of Antarctic benthic communities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 362: 11–38. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1951
Bartley T.J., Mccann K.S., Bieg C., Cazelles K., Granados M., Guzzo M.M., Macdougall A.S., Tunney T.D. & Mcmeans B.C. (2019). Food web rewiring in a changing world. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 345–354. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0772-3
Bearhop S., Adams C.E., Waldron S., Fuller R.A. & Macleod H. (2004). Determining trophic niche width: a novel approach using stable isotope analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology 73: 1007–1012. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00861.x
Boecklen W.J., Yarnes C.T., Cook B.A. & James A.C. (2011). On the use of stable isotopes in trophic ecology. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 42: 411–440. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102209-144726
Brown K.M., Fraser K.P., Barnes D.K. & Peck L.S. (2004). Links between the structure of an Antarctic shallow-water community and ice-scour frequency. Oecologia 141: 121–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1648-6
Bunn S.E., Loneragan N.R. & Kempster M.A. (1995). Effects of acid washing on stable isotope ratios of C and N in penaeid shrimp and seagrass: Implications for food-web studies using multiple stable isotopes. Limnology and Oceanography 40: 622–625. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1995.40.3.0622
Calizza E., Careddu G., Caputi S.S., Rossi L. & Costantini M.L. (2018). Time- and depth-wise trophic niche shifts in Antarctic benthos. PloS ONE 13 (3): e0194796. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194796
Casey M.M. & Post D.M. (2011). The problem of isotopic baseline: reconstructing the diet and trophic position of fossil animals. Earth-Science Reviews 106: 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.02.001
Clarke A. (2008). Ecological stoichiometry in six species of Antarctic marine benthos. Marine Ecology Progress Series 369: 25–37. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07670
Connolly R.M. & Schlacher T.A. (2013). Sample acidification significantly alters stable isotope ratios of sulfur in aquatic plants and animals. Marine Ecology Progress Series 493: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10560
Connolly R.M., Guest M.A., Melville A.J. & Oakes J.M. (2004). Sulfur stable isotopes separate producers in marine food-web analysis. Oecologia 138: 161–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1415-0
Convey P., Chown S.L., Clarke A., Barnes D.K., Bokhorst S., Cummings V., Ducklow H.W., Frati F., Green T.G.A., Gordon S., Griffiths H. J., Howard-Williams C., Huiskes Ad.H.L., Laybourn-Parry J., Lyons W.B., Mcminn A., Morley S.A., Peck L.S., Quesada A., Robinson S.A., Schiaparelli S., Wall D.H. (2014). The spatial structure of Antarctic biodiversity. Ecological Monographs 84: 203–244. https://doi.org/10.1890/12-2216.1
Corbisier T.N., Petti M.A.V., Skowronski R.S.P. & Brito T.A.S. (2004). Trophic relationships in the nearshore zone of Martel Inlet (King George Island, Antarctica): δ 13 C stable-isotope analysis. Polar Biology 27: 75–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-003-0567-z
Cordone G., Salinas V., Marina T.I., Doyle S.R., Pasotti F., Saravia L.A. & Momo F.R. (2020). Green vs brown food web: Effects of habitat type on multidimensional stability proxies for a highly-resolved Antarctic food web. Food Webs 25: e00166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2020.e00166
Curelovich J., Lovrich G.A. & Calcagno J.A. (2016). The role of the predator Trophon geversianus in an intertidal population of Mytilus chilensis in a rocky shore of the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Marine Biology Research 12: 1053–1063. https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2016.1228976
Danis B., Christiansen H., Guillaumot C., Heindler F., Houston R., Jossart Q., Lucas K., Moreau C., Pasotti F. & Robert H. (2019). Report of the Belgica 121 Expedition to the West Antarctic Peninsula. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e70609
Danis B., Christiansen H., Guillaumot C., Heindler F.M., Jossart Q., Moreau C., Pasotti F., Robert H., Wallis B. & Saucède T. (2021). The Belgica 121 expedition to the Western Antarctic Peninsula: a high resolution biodiversity census. Biodiversity Data Journal 9: e70590. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e70609
Danis B., Wallis B., Guillaumot C., Moreau C., Pasotti F., Heindler F.M., Robert H., Christiansen H., Jossart Q. & Saucède T. (2022). Nimble vessel cruises as a complementary platform for Southern Ocean biodiversity research: concept and preliminary results from the Belgica 121 expedition. Antarctic Science 34: 336–342. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102022000165
Dayton P.K., Robilliard G.A., Paine R.T. & Dayton L.B. (1974). Biological accommodation in the benthic community at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Ecological Monographs 44 (1): 105–128. https://doi.org/10.2307/1942321
De Broyer C., Koubbi P., Griffiths H.J., Raymond B., Udekem D’Acoz C.D’, Van De Putte A.P., Danis B., David B., Grant S., Gutt J., Held C., Hosie G., Huettmann F., Post A., Ropert-Coudert Y. (eds). 2014. Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Cambridge, XII + 498 pp. https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2016.80n1135
De Santana C.N., Rozenfeld A.F., Marquet P.A. & Duarte C.M. (2013). Topological properties of polar food webs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 474 15–26. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10073
Ducklow H., Clarke A., Dickhut R., Doney S.C., Geisz H., Huang K., Martinson D.G., Meredith M.P., Moeller H.V. & Montes-Hugo M. (2012). The marine system of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Ecosystems: an Extreme Environment in a Changing World. Blackwell Publishing Ltd Oxford, UK. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444347241.ch5
Ducklow H.W., Fraser W.R., Meredith M.P., Stammerjohn S.E., Doney S.C., Martinson D.G., Sailley S.F., Schofield O.M., Steinberg D.K. & Venables H.J. (2013). West Antarctic Peninsula: an ice-dependent coastal marine ecosystem in transition. Oceanography 26: 190–203. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.62
Dunton K.H. (2001). δ15N and δ13C measurements of Antarctic Peninsula fauna: trophic relationships and assimilation of benthic seaweeds. American Zoologist 41: 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/41.1.99
Elton C.S. (1927). Animal Ecology. University of Chicago Press.
Foltran A., Maranzana G., Rascio N., Scarabel L., Talarico L. & Andreoli C. (1996). Iridaea cordata from Antarctica: an ultrastructural, cytochemical and pigment study. Botanica Marina 39: 533–542. https://doi.org/10.1515/botm.1996.39.1-6.533
France R., Chandler M. & Peters R. (1998). Mapping trophic continua of benthic foodwebs: body sizeδ15N relationships. Marine Ecology Progress Series 174: 301–306. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps174301
Fry B., Ruf W., Gest H. & Hayes J.M. (1988). Sulfur isotope effects associated with oxidation of sulfide by O2 in aqueous solution. Chemical Geology: Isotope Geoscience Section 73: 205–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-9622(88)90001-2
Fry B. (2006). Stable Isotope Ecology. Vol. 521. p. 318. New York: Springer.
Getz W.M. (2011). Biomass transformation webs provide a unified approach to consumer–resource modelling. Ecology Letters 14: 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01566.x
Gibson R. (1983). Antarctic nemerteans: the anatomy, distribution and biology of Parborlasia corrugatus (McIntosh, 1876) (Heteronemertea, Lineidae). Biology of the Antarctic Seas XIV 39: 289–316.
Gillies C.L., Stark J.S., Johnstone G.J. & Smith S.D.A. (2012). Carbon flow and trophic structure of an Antarctic coastal benthic community as determined by δ13C and δ15N. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 97: 44–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2011.11.003
Griffiths H.J., Cummings V.J., Van de Putte A., Whittle R.J. & Waller C.L. (2024). Antarctic benthic ecological change. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 5: 645–664. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00583-5
Ha S.-Y., Ahn I.-Y., Moon H.-W., Choi B. & Shin K.-H. (2019). Tight trophic association between benthic diatom blooms and shallow-water megabenthic communities in a rapidly deglaciated Antarctic fjord. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 218: 258–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2018.12.020
Harper E.M. & Peck L. (2003). Predatory behaviour and metabolic costs in the Antarctic muricid gastropod Trophon longstaffi. Polar Biology 26: 208–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-002-0455-y Hedges J.I. & Stern J.H. (1984). Carbon and nitrogen determinations of carbonate-containing solids 1. Limnology and Oceanography 29: 657–663. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1984.29.3.0657
Hendry K.R., Meredith M.P. & Ducklow H.W. (2018). The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 376: e20170179. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0179
Henley S.F., Schofield O.M., Hendry K.R., Schloss I.R., Steinberg D.K., Moffat C., Peck L.S., Costa D.P., Bakker D.C.E. & Hughes C. (2019). Variability and change in the west Antarctic Peninsula marine system: Research priorities and opportunities. Progress in Oceanography 173: 208–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2019.03.003
Holland P.R. (2014). The seasonality of Antarctic sea ice trends. Geophysical Research Letters 41: 4230–4237. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL060172
Huang Y.M., Amsler M.O., Mcclintock J.B., Amsler C.D. & Baker B.J. (2007). Patterns of gammaridean amphipod abundance and species composition associated with dominant subtidal macroalgae from the western Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biology 30: 1417–1430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0303-1
Iken K., Quartino M.L., Barrera-Oro E., Palermo J., Wiencke C. & Brey T. (1998). Trophic relations between macroalgae and herbivores. Reports on Polar and Marine Research 299: 258–262.
Ingels J., Aronson R.B., Smith C.R., Baco A., Bik,H.M., Blake J.A., Brandt A., Cape M., Demaster D., Dolan E., Domack E., Fire S., Geisz H., Gigliotti M., Griffiths H., Halanych K.M., Havermans C., Huettmann F., Ishman S., Kranz S.A., Leventer A., Mahon A.R., McClintock J., McCormick M.L., Mitchell B.G., Murray A.E., Peck L., Rogers A., Shoplock B., Smith K.E., Steffel B., Stukel M.R., Sweetman A.K., Taylor M., Thurber A.R., Truffer M., van de Putte A., Vanreusel A. & Zamora-Duran M.A. (2021). Antarctic ecosystem responses following ice-shelf collapse and iceberg calving: Science review and future research. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 12: e682. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.682
Jackson A. & Parnell A. (2023). _SIBER: Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R_. R package version 2.1.9. Available from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=SIBER [accessed 18 September 2025]. https://doi.org/10.32614/cran.package.siber
Jackson A.L., Inger R., Parnell A.C. & Bearhop S. (2011). Comparing isotopic niche widths among and within communities: SIBER–Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R. Journal of Animal Ecology 80: 595–602. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01806.x
Jacob U., Brey T., Fetzer I., Kaehler S., Mintenbeck K., Dunton K., Beyer K., Struck U., Pakhomov E.A. & Arntz W.E. (2006). Towards the trophic structure of the Bouvet Island marine ecosystem. Polar Biology 29: 106–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0071-8
Jaschinski S., Hansen T. & Sommer U. (2008). Effects of acidification in multiple stable isotope analyses. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 6: 12–15. https://doi.org/10.4319/lom.2008.6.12
Jin H., van Leeuwen C.H., Temmink R.J. & Bakker E.S. (2022). Impacts of shelter on the relative dominance of primary producers and trophic transfer efficiency in aquatic food webs: Implications for shallow lake restoration. Freshwater Biology 67: 1107–1122. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13904
Kaehler S., Pakhomov E.A. & McQuaid C.D. (2000). Trophic structure of the marine food web at the Prince Edward Islands (Southern Ocean) determined by δ13C and δ15N analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 208: 13–20. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps208013
Ko Y.W., Lee D.S., Kim J.H., Ha S.Y., Kim S. & Choi H.G. (2023). The glacier melting process is an invisible barrier to the development of Antarctic subtidal macroalgal assemblages. Environmental Research 233: e116438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116438
Layman C.A., Arrington D.A., Montaña C.G. & Post D.M. (2007). Can stable isotope ratios provide for community-wide measures of trophic structure? Ecology 88: 42–48. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2007)88[42:csirpf]2.0.co;2
Layman C.A., Araujo M.S., Boucek R., Hammerschlag-Peyer C.M., Harrison E., Jud Z.R., Matich P., Rosenblatt A.E., Vaudo J.J., Yeager L.A., Post D.M. & Bearhop S. (2012). Applying stable isotopes to examine food-web structure: an overview of analytical tools. Biological Reviews 87 (3): 545–562. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185x.2011.00208.x
Le Bourg B., Kuklinski P., Balazy P., Lepoint G. & Michel L.N. (2021). Interactive effects of body size and environmental gradient on the trophic ecology of sea stars in an Antarctic fjord. Marine Ecology Progress Series 674: 189–202. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13821
Lizotte M.P. (2001). The contributions of sea ice algae to Antarctic marine primary production. American Zoologist 41: 57–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/41.1.57
Lumpkin R. & Speer K. (2007). Global ocean meridional overturning. Journal of Physical Oceanography 37: 2550–2562. https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo3130.1
Marshall J. & Speer K. (2012). Closure of the meridional overturning circulation through Southern Ocean upwelling. Nature Geoscience 5: 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1391
Mateo M.A., Serrano O., Serrano L. & Michener R.H. (2008). Effects of sample preparation on stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen in marine invertebrates: implications for food web studies using stable isotopes. Oecologia 157: 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1052-8
McClintock J.B. (1994). Trophic biology of Antarctic shallow-water echinoderms. Marine Ecology Progress Series 111: 191–202. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps111191
McClintock J.B., Amsler C.D., Baker B.J. & Van Soest R.W.M. (2005). Ecology of Antarctic marine sponges: an overview. Integrative and Comparative Biology 45: 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/45.2.359
McMahon K.W., Ambrose Jr W.G., Johnson B.J., Sun M.-Y., Lopez G.R., Clough L. M. & Carroll M.L. (2006). Benthic community response to ice algae and phytoplankton in Ny Ålesund, Svalbard. Marine Ecology Progress Series 310: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps310001
Michel L.N., David B., Dubois P., Lepoint G. & De Ridder C. (2016). Trophic plasticity of Antarctic echinoids under contrasted environmental conditions. Polar Biology 39: 913–923. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1873-y
Michel L.N., Danis B., Dubois P., Eleaume M., Fournier J., Gallut C., Jane P. & Lepoint G. (2019). Increased sea ice cover alters food web structure in East Antarctica. Scientific Reports 9: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44605-5
Moline M.A., Claustre H., Frazer T.K., Schofield O. & Vernet M. (2004). Alteration of the food web along the Antarctic Peninsula in response to a regional warming trend. Global Change Biology 10: 1973–1980. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00825.x
Niemi A., Bluhm B.A., Juul-Pedersen T., Kohlbach D., Reigstad M., Søgaard D.H., Amiraux, R. (2024). Ice algae contributions to the benthos during a time of sea ice change: a review of supply, coupling, and fate. Frontriers in Environmental Science 12: e1432761. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1432761
Norkko A., Thrush S.F., Cummings V.J., Funnell G.A., Schwarz A.-M., Andrew N. L. & Hawes I. (2004). Ecological role of Phyllophora antarctica drift accumulations in coastal soft-sediment communities of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Polar Biology 27: 482–494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0610-8
Norkko A., Thrush S.F., Cummings V.J., Gibbs M.M., Andrew N.L., Norkko J. & Schwarz A.M. (2007). Trophic structure of coastal Antarctic food webs associated with changes in sea ice and food supply. Ecology 88: 2810–2820. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1396.1
Nyssen F., Brey T., Dauby P. & Graeve M. (2005). Trophic position of Antarctic amphipods—enhanced analysis by a 2-dimensional biomarker assay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 300: 135–145. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps300135
Parkinson C.L. (2019). A 40-y record reveals gradual Antarctic sea ice increases followed by decreases at rates far exceeding the rates seen in the Arctic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116: 14414–14423. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906556116
Parkinson C.L. & Cavalieri D.J. (2012). Antarctic sea ice variability and trends, 1979-2010. The Cryosphere 6: 871–880. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-871-2012
Pasotti F., Saravia L.A., De Troch M., Tarantelli M.S., Sahade R. & Vanreusel A. (2015). Benthic trophic interactions in an Antarctic shallow water ecosystem affected by recent glacier retreat. PLoS ONE 10: e0141742. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141742
Post D.M. (2002). Using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position: models, methods, and assumptions. Ecology 83: 703–718. https://doi.org/10.2307/3071875
Presler P. (1986). Necrophagous invertebrates of the Admiralty Bay of King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). Polish Polar Research 7 (1–2): 25–61.
Queirós J.P., Borras-Chavez R., Friscourt N., Groß J., Lewis C.B., Mergard G. & O’Brien K. (2024). Southern Ocean food-webs and climate change: A short review and future directions. PLOS Climate 3: e0000358. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000358
Raoult V., Phillips A.A., Nelson J., Niella Y., Skinner C., Tilcock M.B., Burke P.J., Szpak P., James W.R. & Harrod C. (2024). Why aquatic scientists should use sulfur stable isotope ratios (-34S) more often. Chemosphere 355: e141816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141816
Rees C.E., Jenkins W.J. & Monster J. (1978). The sulphur isotopic composition of ocean water sulphate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 42: 377–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(78)90268-5
Rauschert M. & Arntz W. (2015). Antarctic Macrobenthos: a Field Guide of the Invertebrates Living at the Antarctic Seafloor. Arntz & Rauschert Selbstverlag.
R Core Team (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available from https://www.R-project.org/ [accessed 18 September 2025].
Rossi L., Caputi S.S., Calizza E., Careddu G., Oliverio M., Schiaparelli S. & Costantini M.L. (2019). Antarctic food web architecture under varying dynamics of sea ice cover. Scientific Reports 9: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48245-7
Seyboth E., Botta S., Mendes C.R.B., Negrete J., Dalla Rosa L. & Secchi E.R. (2018). Isotopic evidence of the effect of warming on the northern Antarctic Peninsula ecosystem. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 149: 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.12.020
Smale D.A. & Barnes D.K. (2008). Likely responses of the Antarctic benthos to climate-related changes in physical disturbance during the 21st century, based primarily on evidence from the West Antarctic Peninsula region. Ecography 31: 289–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0906-7590.2008.05456.x
Smale D.A., Barnes D.K.A., Fraser K.P.P., Mann P.J. & Brown M.P. (2007). Scavenging in Antarctica: intense variation between sites and seasons in shallow benthic necrophagy. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 349: 405–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2007.06.002
Tatian M., Sahade R. & Esnal G.B. (2004). Diet components in the food of Antarctic ascidians living at low levels of primary production. Antarctic Science 16: 123–128. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102004001890
Thomas D.N., Fogg G.E., Convey P., Fritsen C.H., Gili J.M., Gradinger R., Laybourn-Parry J., Reid K. & Walton D.W.H. (2008). The Biology of Polar Regions. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298112.001.0001
Thurber A.R. (2007). Diets of Antarctic sponges: links between the pelagic microbial loop and benthic metazoan food web. Marine Ecology Progress Series 351: 77–89. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07122
Turner T.F., Collyer M.L. & Krabbenhoft T.J. (2010). A general hypothesis-testing framework for stable isotope ratios in ecological studies. Ecology 91 (8): 2227–2233. https://doi.org/10.1890/09-1454.1
Vander Zanden M.J., Clayton M.K., Moody E.K., Solomon C.T. & Weidel B.C. (2015). Stable isotope turnover and half-life in animal tissues: a literature synthesis. PloS ONE 10: e0116182. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116182
Wägele H. (1989). Diet of some Antarctic nudibranchs (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Nudibranchia). Marine Biology 100: 439–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00394819
Whippo R., Iken K., Amsler C.D., Lowe A.T., Schram J.B., Klein A.G., Heiser S., Amsler M.O., McClintock J.B. & Galloway A.W. (2024). Fatty acid profiles and stable isotope composition of Antarctic macroalgae: a baseline for a combined biomarker approach in food web studies. Polar Biology 47: 367–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03234-z
Williams R.J. & Martinez N.D. (2004). Limits to trophic levels and omnivory in complex food webs: theory and data. The American Naturalist 163: 458–468. https://doi.org/10.1086/381964
Wing S.R., Mcleod R.J., Leichter J.J., Frew R.D. & Lamare M.D. (2012). Sea ice microbial production supports Ross Sea benthic communities: influence of a small but stable subsidy. Ecology 93: 314–323. https://doi.org/10.1890/11-0996.1
Wood T.S. (2015). Phyla ectoprocta and entoprocta (Bryozoans). In: Thorp J.H. & Rogers D.C. (eds) Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invertebrates (4th Edition): 327–345. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-385026-3.00016-4
Zenteno-Devaud L., Aguirre-Martinez G.V., Andrade C., Cárdenas L., Pardo L.M., González H.E. & Garrido I. (2022). Feeding ecology of Odontaster validus under different environmental conditions in the West Antarctic Peninsula. Biology 11 (12): e1723. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11121723