Benthic Carbon Processes in the St. Lawrence Island Polynya:An Appraisal Using Oxygen Isotope Composition, Sediment Oxygen Uptake, and Benthic Community Analysis

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Polynyas, open water areas within ice covered seas, are thought to be important in sustaining primary and secondary productivity in polar regions. The project will investigate the influence of the St. Lawrence Polynya (SLIP) on benthic communities in the Bering Sea by utilizing 3 methods. The first method will use a newly demonstrated technique that takes advantage of the oxygen-18 signal incorporated from seawater into tunicate cellulose, providing an averaged seasonal metabolism signal for benthic productivity. The next method will test whether sediment oxygen uptake is enhanced in regions exposed to open water in the early spring, reflecting a larger cumulative organic detrital load. The last method will evaluate benthic community composition in the polynya benthos to test whether the presumed presence of enhanced early spring primary productivity has significant role in structuring macrofaunal diversity and biomass. The use of the stable oxygen isotope technique for analyzing tunicate cellulose, in combination with sediment respiration rates and traditional benthic sampling, will provide insight into the significance of the winter/spring polynya primary production.