Abstract
The Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarctica is a key species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, and it is potentially threatened by the climate change affecting Antarctic ecosystems. Assessing the possible exposure to similar or different environmental conditions at early life stages and gathering information about connectivity or segregation between local populations of P. antarctica can be key for planning sound management strategies for this species. By using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, we characterized the otolith chemical composition of 163 adult Antarctic silverfish collected from three areas located thousands of kilometers apart from each other: Cape Hallett, Adelie Land, and Joinville Island. Otoliths were analyzed for chemical composition of both the edge (reflecting the exposure of individuals to environmental conditions at the site where they were sampled) and the core (reflecting exposure to environmental conditions during early life periods after the egg fertilization). We found that the chemical composition along otolith edges was heterogeneous between samples collected at Joinville Island and those collected at the other two sampling areas. In contrast, the chemical composition of otolith cores was homogenous. Our study suggests that adult Antarctic silverfish inhabiting areas very distant from each other have been exposed to similar environmental conditions at early life stages, and could have experienced similar growth rates and physiological processes. This would imply that environmental drivers probably do not play a role in determining potential spatial variability in individual fitness at early life stages, and should not have a major impact on population replenishment.
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Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by the PNRA (Italian National Antarctic Research Program) within the research project 2013/AZ1.18 (RAISE—Integrated Research on AntarctIc Silverfish Ecology in the Ross Sea). The authors thank Malcom Clark (NIWA, New Zealand), Philippe Koubbi (Sorbonne Université, France), and Magnus Lucassen (AWI, Germany) for having made available Antarctic Silverfish samples and environmental information collected during the Tangaroa, L’Astrolabe, and Polarstern cruises. The authors are also grateful to Mario La Mesa (CNR, Italy) for the helpful discussion about otolith accretion in Pleuragramma antarctica. The authors thank Professor Robert Clarke for suggestions regarding experimental design and analyses, and Michael Paul for the professional English proofreading and editing of the manuscript. Finally, the authors thank the editor, Kevin McNeel and the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the manuscript.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the PNRA (Italian National Antarctic Research Program) within the research project 2013/AZ1.18 (RAISE—Integrated Research on AntarctIc Silverfish Ecology in the Ross Sea).
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MV, PG, and ADF conceived and designed the research. MV collected samples. ADF and MR prepared the samples. ADF, AC, PG, MR, GDB, AP conducted analyses. AC and ADF analyzed data. All authors contributed to interpretation of data. ADF and PG led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the manuscript, gave final approval for publication, and agree to be held accountable for all aspects of the work.
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Di Franco, A., Calò, A., De Benedetto, G.E. et al. Otolith chemical composition suggests local populations of Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarctica (Boulenger, 1902) around Antarctica are exposed to similar environmental conditions at early life stages. Polar Biol 44, 1979–1991 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02932-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02932-2