Potential climate change effects on the habitat of antarctic krill in the weddell quadrant of the southern ocean.

ABSTRACT: Antarctic krill is a cold water species, an increasingly important fishery resource and a major prey item for many fish, birds and mammals in the Southern Ocean. The fishery and the summer foraging sites of many of these predators are concentrated between 0° and 90°W. Parts of this quadrant have experienced recent localised sea surface warming of up to 0.2°C per decade, and projections suggest that further widespread warming of 0.27° to 1.08°C will occur by the late 21(st) century. We assessed the potential influence of this projected warming on Antarctic krill habitat with a statistical model that links growth to temperature and chlorophyll concentration. The results divide the quadrant into two zones: a band around the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in which habitat quality is particularl

SUBMITTER: Hill SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3749108 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature