Experimental enhancement of Coastal Antarctic Production

Antarctic coastal ecosystems are characterised by a substantial planktonic productivity which have an important contribution to the carbon flow in the Southern Ocean and, therefore, its role in the carbon budget of the global ocean. Present knowledge point to the control of coastal planktonic production in Antarctica by biological and physical factors. However, our present knowledge on these control mechanisms is still poor, and we are, as yet, unable to predict the magnitude and fate of Antarctic planktonic production. The different hypotheses on the regulation of the planktonic production in the Antarctic coast must, therefore, be subject to experimental manipullation at a relevant scale, allowing the observation of the entire system. The goal of this project is to conduct the experimental work with mesocosms needed to test the importance of different control mechanisms of Antarctic coastal production, to produce a prodictive model, which will be tested against a detailed time series. The model will then be used to estimate the role of Antarctic coastal communities in the flow of carbon in the Antarctic Ocean.