Autumn Ecology of the Pack Ice Biota

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Seasonal drifting pack ice covers vast regions of the Southern Ocean. The biota in pack ice are found throughout the ice floes, and this has been attributed to the harvesting and concentration of organisms from the water during frazil ice formation. The frequent formation of frazil ice and the concentration of organisms in newly-forming ice is one of the fundamental differences between the pack ice and the land fast ice habitats. During the autumn to winter transitional light levels and atmospheric temperatures decrease and a considerable amount of seasonal sea ice forms. Organisms incorporated into ice floes during this season will be subjected to low temperature, high in situ salinities and low light. This project will examine the process of the incorporation of organisms into ice to determine if selection occurs, if organisms survive and if some organisms form resting stages as a means for insuring overwinter survival. This is part of an international, multidisciplinary study of the pack ice system. This project will be a key part of the collaboration, which focuses on biological, physical and chemical processes during the autumn ice-forming season.