Ross Sea Ecology: Italiantartide Expeditions (19871995) [Paperback]

The Antarctic represents the last of the world's still unexplored continents. Since 1985, Italy has sent 10 expeditions to this region, three of those have been exclusively devoted to research on the marine ecology of the Ross Sea region. This volume presents a global picture of this research. It includes contributions on water mass characteristics, particulate organic matter and nutrient utilization, and physiological aspects of primary production. Further topics are zooplankton, krill and top predator interactions in relation to physical and biological parameters, ecological features of coastal fish communities and the spatio-temporal variability of benthic biocenoses.1 The Italian Oceanographic Cruises in the Ross Sea (198795): Strategy, General Considerations and Description of the Sampling Sites.- General Characteristics and Biogeochemical Processes.- 2 Climatic Characterization of the Terra Nova Bay Region.- 3 Oxygen Isotope Characterization of Terra Nova Bay Seawater.- 4 Biogeochemical Processes in the Ross Sea (Antarctica): Present Knowledge and Perspectives.- 5 Some Palaeoecological Remarks on the Ross Sea Shelf, Antarctica.- Water Masses and Circulation Patterns.- 6 Water Masses and Suspended Matter Characteristics of the Western Ross Sea.- 7 Water Mass Characteristics During the ROSSMIZE Cruise (Western Sector of the Ross Sea, NovemberDecember 1994).- 8 Large-Scale Circulation Features in the Central and Western Ross Sea (Antarctica).- Nutrients, Particulate Organic Matter, and Microbial Biomass.- 9 Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Nutrient Distributions in the Ross Sea.- 10 Particulate Organic Matter and Nutrient Utilization in the Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea.- 11 Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Particulate Organic Matter in the Ross Sea.- 12 Coupling of Surface Layer Biological Processes and Vertical Flux in the Ross Sea.- 13 Bacteria, Protozoa and Organic Matter Composition in the Sediments of Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea).- 14 Microbial Biomass andlÓ#