Biogeosciences, 11, 833–842, 2014 Open Access www.biogeosciences.net/11/833/2014/ doi:10.5194/bg-11-833-2014 Biogeosciences © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Polar coralline algal CaCO3-production rates correspond to intensity and duration of the solar radiation S. Teichert1 and A. Freiwald2 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Section Palaeontology, Erlangen, Germany 2Senckenberg am Meer, Section Marine Geology, Wilhelmshaven, Germany Correspondence to: S. Teichert (
[email protected]) Received: 5 July 2013 – Published in Biogeosciences Discuss.: 26 August 2013 Revised: 8 January 2014 – Accepted: 8 January 2014 – Published: 11 February 2014 Abstract. In this study we present a comparative quan- decrease water transparency and hence light incidence at the tification of CaCO3 production rates by rhodolith-forming four offshore sites. Regarding the aforementioned role of the coralline red algal communities situated in high polar lat- rhodoliths as ecosystem engineers, the impact on the associ- itudes and assess which environmental parameters control ated organisms will presumably also be negative. these production rates. The present rhodoliths act as ecosys- tem engineers, and their carbonate skeletons provide an im- portant ecological niche to a variety of benthic organisms. The settings are distributed along the coasts of the Sval- 1 Introduction bard archipelago, being Floskjeret (78◦180 N) in Isfjorden, Krossfjorden (79◦080 N) at the eastern coast of Haakon VII Coralline red algae are the most consistently and heavily Land, Mosselbukta (79◦530 N) at the eastern coast of Mossel- calcified group of the red algae, and as such have been el- halvøya, and Nordkappbukta (80◦310 N) at the northern coast evated to ordinal status (Corallinales Silva and Johansen, of Nordaustlandet.