Asympagic environment is one where water exists mostly as a solid,ice, such as apolar ice cap orglacier. Solidsea ice is permeated with channels filled with salty brine. These briny channels and the sea ice itself have its ecology, referred to as "sympagic ecology".
Residents oftemperate ortropical climates often assume, mistakenly, that ice and snow are devoid of life. In fact, a number of varieties ofalgae such asdiatoms engage inphotosynthesis inarctic andalpine regions of Earth. Other energy sources include Aeoliandust andpollen swept in from other regions. These ecosystems also includebacteria andfungi, as well asanimals likeflatworms andcrustaceans. A number of sympagic worm species are commonly calledice worms.
Additionally, the ocean has abundantplankton, and prolificalgal blooms occur in the polar regions each summer as well as in high mountain lakes, bringing nutrients to those parts of the ice in contact with the water. In the Arctic Ocean, ice algae accounts for close to half of the primary production during the summer months.[1] In the spring,krill can scrape off the green lawn ofice algae from the underside of thepack ice.
The Arctic sea ice and its relatedbiota are unique, and the year-round persistence of the ice has allowed the development of iceendemic species. The specializedsympagic community within the sea ice is found in the tiny liquid filled network of pores and brine channels or at the ice-water interface. The organisms living within the sea ice are consequently small (<1mm), and dominated bybacteria, and unicellular plants and animals.
Diatoms are considered the most important primary producers inside the ice with more than 200 species occurring in Arctic sea ice.[2] In addition,flagellates contribute tobiodiversity.[3]Protozoan andmetazoan icemeiofauna, in particularturbellarians,nematodes,crustaceans androtifers, can be abundant in all ice types year-round. In spring,larvae and juveniles ofbenthic animals (e.g.polychaetes andmolluscs) migrate into coastal fast ice to feed on the icealgae for a few weeks.[4]
A partially endemicfauna, comprising mainlygammarideanamphipods, thrives at the underside of ice floes. Locally and seasonally occurring at several hundred individuals per square meter, they are important mediators for particulate organic matter from the sea ice to the water column.[5] Ice-associated andpelagiccrustaceans are the major food sources forpolar cod (Boreogadus saida) that occurs in close association with sea ice and acts as the major link from the ice-related food web to seals and whales.
While previous studies of coastal and offshore sea ice provided a glimpse of the seasonal and regional abundances and the diversity of the ice-associated biota, biodiversity in these communities is virtually unknown for all groups, from bacteria to metazoans. Manytaxa are likely still undiscovered due to the methodological problems in analyzing ice samples.[6] The study of diversity of ice related environments is urgently required before they ultimately change with altering ice regimes and the likely loss of the multi-year ice cover.[7]
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