The Arctic is warming four times faster than the global mean, while the ‘Atlantification’ of the Arctic via Fram Strait is having growing influences on both physical and biological processes in the region. Greater understanding of how these changes are impacting local marine biodiversity is crucial for formulating accurate predictions of future Arctic ecosystems and potential management and mitigation decisions. Gelatinous zooplankton (GZP) are a highly diverse group of taxa, including cnidarians, ctenophores and pelagic tunicates and can have a wide range of ecosystem impacts. Little is known about GZP ecology in the Arctic seas, and even less about how their diversity and distributions are being impacted by climate-related changes. GZP are notoriously difficult to catch in good condition and are regularly underestimated in biodiversity, distribution and abundance. This has led to a lack of reliable and comprehensive baseline datasets, especially in the Arctic. In this study, we investigate GZP biodiversity across Fram Strait, comparing eDNA metabarcoding and net catch data from the same period and localities. We used the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene for DNA metabarcoding using the Illumina NovaSeq platform. We successfully detected a wide range of GZP taxa with eDNA, across stations and depths. This dataset represents a valuable contribution to forming baseline datasets for the region, future research on changing GZP biodiversity and community composition, as well as biomonitoring of rare and range-shifting species in a changing Arctic Ocean.

Primary Presenter: Ayla Murray, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (ayla.murray@awi.de)

Authors:

Charlotte Havermans, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research  (charlotte.havermans@awi.de)