Grazing in times of fading light - how zooplankton shapes the ecosystem at the Western Antarctic Peninsula during autumnal shifts of growth limiting factors

Abstract

The biological carbon pump influences earth’s climate by carbon sequestration to depth. The efficiency of the biological carbon pump at the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is determined by autotrophic carbon fixation in phytoplankton on the one hand, and heterotrophic carbon recycling by consumption and respiration on the other. This dissertation investigates the carbon cycling at the WAP in austral autumn by focusing on the nutrient and trace-element environment influencing phytoplankton growth bottom-up on the one hand, and on the other by investigating the grazing environment and grazing-associated trace metal recycling.