McClintock James B.

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McClintock
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James B.
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  • Article
    Climate change and the threat of novel marine predators in Antarctica
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2017-11-30) Smith, Kathryn E. ; Aronson, Richard B. ; Steffel, Brittan V. ; Amsler, Margaret O. ; Thatje, Sven ; Singh, Hanumant ; Anderson, Jeff ; Brothers, Cecilia ; Brown, Alastair ; Ellis, Daniel S. ; Havenhand, Jon N. ; James, William R. ; Moksnes, Per-Olav ; Randolph, Allison W. ; Sayre-McCord, Thomas ; McClintock, James B.
    Historically low temperatures have severely limited skeleton-breaking predation on the Antarctic shelf, facilitating the evolution of a benthic fauna poorly defended against durophagy. Now, rapid warming of the Southern Ocean is restructuring Antarctic marine ecosystems as conditions become favorable for range expansions. Populations of the lithodid crab Paralomis birsteini currently inhabit some areas of the continental slope off Antarctica. They could potentially expand along the slope and upward to the outer continental shelf, where temperatures are no longer prohibitively low. We identified two sites inhabited by different densities of lithodids in the slope environment along the western Antarctic Peninsula. Analysis of the gut contents of P. birsteini trapped on the slope revealed them to be opportunistic invertivores. The abundances of three commonly eaten, eurybathic taxa—ophiuroids, echinoids, and gastropods—were negatively associated with P. birsteini off Marguerite Bay, where lithodid densities averaged 4280 ind/km2 at depths of 1100–1499 m (range 3440–5010 ind/km2), but not off Anvers Island, where lithodid densities were lower, averaging 2060 ind/km2 at these depths (range 660–3270 ind/km2). Higher abundances of lithodids appear to exert a negative effect on invertebrate distribution on the slope. Lateral or vertical range expansions of P. birsteini at sufficient densities could substantially reduce populations of their benthic prey off Antarctica, potentially exacerbating the direct impacts of rising temperatures on the distribution and diversity of the contemporary shelf benthos.
  • Article
    Covering behavior of deep-water echinoids in Antarctica : possible response to predatory king crabs
    (Inter-Research, 2016-07-14) Brothers, Cecilia ; Smith, Kathryn E. ; Amsler, Margaret O. ; Aronson, Richard B. ; Singh, Hanumant ; McClintock, James B.
    Covering behavior refers to the propensity of echinoids (Echinoidea) to lift materials from the surrounding environment onto their aboral surfaces using their tube feet and spines. This behavior has been widely documented in regular echinoids from a variety of well-lit, shallow-marine habitats. Covering behavior in the deep sea, however, is rarely observed, and the functional significance of covering when it does occur remains speculative. During a photographic survey of the seafloor off Anvers Island and Marguerite Bay along the western Antarctic Peninsula, we imaged 11 benthic transects at depths ranging from 390 to 2100 m. We recorded the number of echinoid species, incidence of covering behavior, types of materials used for covering, potential predators of echinoids, and potential prey items for predators. The echinoid Sterechinus spp. was found at all depths, and the percentage of individuals exhibiting covering behavior increased with depth between 390 and 1500 m. There was a significant positive correlation between the incidence of covering behavior in Sterechinus spp. and the density of king crabs (Anomura: Lithodidae), crushing predators that may be expanding their bathymetric range up the Antarctic continental slope as a consequence of ongoing climatic warming. In contrast, covering behavior was not positively correlated with the densities of non-crab predators, the total densities of predators, or the availability of prey. Our results document rarely observed covering behavior in echinoids living in the deep sea and suggest that covering could be a behavioral response to predation pressure by king crabs.