Biodiversity of an Antarctic rocky subtidal community and its relationship with glacier meltdown processes

Abstract Glacier meltdown is a major environmental response to climate change in the West Antarctic Peninsula. Yet, the consequences of this process for local biodiversity are still not well understood. Here, we analyse the diversity and structure of a species-rich marine subtidal macrobenthic community (consumers and primary producers) across two abiotic environmental gradients defined by the distance from a glacier (several km) and depth (down to 20 m) in Fildes Bay, King George Island. The analysis of spatially extensive records of seawater turbidity, high-frequency temperature and salinity data, and suction dredge samples of macrobenthic organisms revealed non-linear and functional group-dependent associations between biodiversity, glacier influence, and depth. Turbidity peaked in shallow waters and in the nearby of the glacier. Temperature and salinity, on the other hand, were slightly decreased in the proximity of the glacier relative to reference sites. According to the spatial pattern in turbidity, species richness of consumers was lowest in shallow waters and near to the glacier. Also, Shannon's diversity of consumers significantly decreased in the nearby of glacier across depths. Moreover, the spatial variation in community structure of consumers and primary producers depended on both glacier distance and depth. These results suggest that glacier melting can have significant effects on diversity and community structure. Therefore, the accelerated glacier meltdown may have major consequences for the biodiversity in this ecosystem.