Institute of Atmospheric and Aquatic Sciences, NIWA/University of Auckland

Can we detect fast growth responses in slow environments?

The main influence on the growth rates of Antarctic benthic invertebrates is food availability. The benthic fauna rely heavily on the seasonal influx of organic material derived from the annual phytoplankton bloom in late spring-early summer. Thus, even though the average annual growth rate can be extremely low, the growth rate of benthic fauna is expected to increase significantly when food is abundant. This project aimed to test the responses of benthic fauna to fluctuations in food availability at sample sites around McMurdo Sound.

Recent Publications
Norkko, J. et al.  2005. Detecting growth under environmental extremes: Spatial and temporal patterns in nucleic acid ratios in two Antarctic bivalves. Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology 326: 144-156.

Norkko, J. 2005. Indicators of  short-term growth in bivalves: detecting envionrmental change across ecological scales. PhD University of Auckland.