Ecological studies in the Antarctic Sea ice zone

Ten years ago Polar Biology published the book, Weddell Sea Ecology, containing the European „Polarstern“ study EPOS in the Weddell Sea and Peninsula waters 1988/89. In certain respects, the present collection of papers, first published in Polar Biology in 2001, is a follow-up as it combines papers partly based on three „Polarstern“ expeditions to the same region. Further articles relate to both land-based and shipborne studies, again primarily in the Atlantic sector and around the Antarctic Peninsula. The SCAR programme, „Ecology of the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone“ (EASIZ), served as an umbrella for a truly international cooperation. Although funding came exclusively from national sources, 40% of the scientists on board „Polarstern“ were foreigners. Out of the 35 papers of the present volume not less than 14 papers have multinational authorship. The scope of EASIZ is wider ilian the Southern Ocean Studies in JGOFS and GLOBEC. The Contents reflect emphasis on the study of benthos, which hitherto had not received the necessary attention in the attempt to understand key questions of evolution and zoogeography of fauna from the Southern Hemisphere. The information collected under EASIZ enhanced greatly our recognition of the rather high biodiversity of ilie Antarctic shelf benthos. In order to extend these studies to ilie deeper continental slopes and the deep sea, „Polarstern“ is presently on her way for ilie first international survey of deep-sea benthos in the Atlantic sector of ilie Southern Ocean.