Quantifying circumpolar summer habitat for Antarctic krill and Ice krill, two key species of the Antarctic marine ecosystem

Merkel, B.; Trathan, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6673-9930; Thorpe, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5193-6955; Murphy, E.J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7369-9196; Pehlke, H.; Teschke, K.; Griffith, G.P.. 2023 Quantifying circumpolar summer habitat for Antarctic krill and Ice krill, two key species of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. ICES Journal Marine Science, 80 (6), fsad110. 1773-1786. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsad110

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Text (Open Access) © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. fsad110.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and Ice krill (Euphausia crystallorophias) are key species within Southern Ocean marine ecosystems. Given their importance in regional food webs, coupled with the uncertain impacts of climate change, the on-going recovery of krill-eating marine mammals, and the expanding commercial fishery for Antarctic krill, there is an increasing need to improve current estimates of their circumpolar habitat distribution. Here, we provide an estimate of the austral summer circumpolar habitat distribution of both species using an ensemble of habitat models and updated environmental covariates. Our models were able to resolve the segregated habitats of both species. We find that extensive potential habitat for Antarctic krill is mainly situated in the open ocean and concentrated in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, while Ice krill habitat was concentrated more evenly around the continent, largely over the continental shelf. Ice krill habitat was mainly predicted by surface oxygen concentration and water column temperature, while Antarctic krill was additionally characterized by mixed layer depth, distance to the continental shelf edge, and surface salinity. Our results further improve understanding about these key species, helping inform sustainable circumpolar management practices.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsad110
ISSN:	1054-3139
Additional Keywords:	Euphausia superba, Euphausia crystallorophias, habitat suitability model, species distribution model, Southern Ocean
Date made live:	18 Jul 2023 16:05 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/534294

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