Early responses to sedimentation due rapid climate change of one key Antarctic species

RUIZ MICAELA; SAHADE RICARDO; ALURRALDE GASTÓN; SERVETTO, NATALIA; HELD, CHRISTOPH

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XVIII CONGRESO LATINOAMERICANO DE CIENCIAS DEL MAR; 2019

The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the fastest climate change rates of the planet in the last decades, producing a massive loss of ice-sheet and glaciers retreat. Glacier melting lead to sediment runoff and therefore high inputs of terrigenous sediments into the water column. This ?sedimentation? process is an important stressor for marine systems, specialy for filter feeders animals. It has been proposed to be the cause of the shift in the benthic community of coastal shallow waters: from a ?filter feeders?ascidian domination? to a ?mixed assemblage?. For instance, the abundance of Cnemidocarpa verrucosa, a key solitary ascidian in the Antarctic benthic assemblage, was drastically diminished. As C. verrucosa shows an active response to sedimentation, the aim of this project is to understand that response by analyzing the regulation of gene expression.