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Evaluating potential factors influencing branch diameter and skeletal Mg-calcite using an Antarctic cyclostome bryozoan species

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Abstract

Environmental and biological factors play important roles in determining the skeletal morphology and mineralogy of modular colonial organisms such as bryozoans. The broad bathymetrical ranges of Antarctic bryozoans make them useful organisms for evaluating depth-related changes in colony morphology, including branch diameter, which has been shown to decrease with depth in various ramose colonial animals. The current study focuses on the bryozoan Fasciculipora ramosa, using 32 specimens collected at East Antarctica from 185 to 597 m deep during the CEAMARC cruise (2007–2008). In order to test for the expected inverse relationship between depth and branch diameter, measurements of branch diameters were made. Levels of Mg in the calcite skeleton were determined as this was also predicted to follow changes in branch diameter. A significant negative correlation was found between branch diameter and depth. No significant relationship was detected between branch diameter and skeletal Mg, suggesting that these variables are driven by different factors. The thickest branches were found in current-influenced sites on Adélie Bank where temperature and salinity are both lower and planktonic food supply may also be different from the other sites. Further studies are needed along a wider bathymetrical range to clarify which factors influence branch diameter as well as Mg content in F. ramosa and to test its potential as an environmental indicator.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mary Spencer-Jones for her valuable support at the Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK). We are also very grateful for the helpful suggestions of the editor, Dr. Chiara Lombardi and two anonymous reviewers. We wish to acknowledge the voyage leader, Martin Riddle, the crew and the captain of the RV Aurora Australis. The CAML-CEAMARC cruise of RV Aurora Australis (IPY Project n°53) was supported by the Australian Antarctic Division, the Japanese Science Foundation, the French Polar Institute IPEV and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. The research stages of B.F. at the NHMUK and at the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences received support from the SYNTHESYS Project http://www.synthesys.info/ and from the Leading National Research Centre (KNOW), respectively. SYNTHESYS is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program. KNOW received funds from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education by the Centre for Polar Studies for the period 2014–2018. The study was also completed thanks to the financial support to PK from the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme operated by the National Centre for Research and Development under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 in the frame of Project Contract No Pol-Nor/196260/81/2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity Research Institute (IrBIO), Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Blanca Figuerola

  2. Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 81-712, Sopot, Poland

    Blanca Figuerola & Piotr Kuklinski

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Piotr Kuklinski & Paul D. Taylor

  4. Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Francesc Carmona

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  1. Blanca Figuerola
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  2. Piotr Kuklinski
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  3. Francesc Carmona
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  4. Paul D. Taylor
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Correspondence to Blanca Figuerola.

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Handling editor: Iacopo Bertocci

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Figuerola, B., Kuklinski, P., Carmona, F. et al. Evaluating potential factors influencing branch diameter and skeletal Mg-calcite using an Antarctic cyclostome bryozoan species. Hydrobiologia 799, 101–110 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3213-4

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