Report on Japan-Australia collaborative research on marine biology in the Prydz Bay area, Antarctica in 1992

Abstract

A three-year research collaboration with biologists in the Australian Antarctic Division, on the variability in the Antarctic marine environment and its effects on the biological processes has started from the 1991/92 austral summer season. For the first year, a joint proposal of H. MARCHANT (Australian Antarctic Division) and M. FUKUCHI (National Institute of Polar Research) to investigate biological processes in the Prydz Bay and the coastal ice-covered areas, titled "The production and fate of biogenic particles in the Antarctic marine ecosystem" was submitted and carried out during the voyage 6 of the Australian Antarctic research ship, AURORA AUSTRALIS from January 9 to March 27,1992. Main objectives of this research were; 1) to investigate seasonal variations in the primary and secondary productions and sinking processes of the products throughout the year with moored instruments and 2) to estimate the contribution of different components to the production and sinking processes of lower trophic organisms. For these objectives, time-series sediment traps with an in-situ chlorophyll recorder and current meters were deployed and water collections, plankton-net samplings and incubation experiments were carried out in the Prydz Bay area. The feeding selectivity of the antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a dominant primary consumer in the Southern Ocean, was preliminarily investigated with a simple electrophysiological method.