(Table 1) Strontium isotope data for marine carbonates of sediment core CRP-3

Strontium isotope stratigraphy was used to date 5 discrete horizons within the CRP-3 drillhole. A single in situ modiolid bivalve fragment at 10.88 mbsf gives an age of 30.9 (±0.8) Ma for the associated sediment. The four remaining well preserved fragments recovered from 29.94-190.31 mbsf are within error of this age, indicating a high sedimentation rate and suggesting little time is missing in disconformities. The diagenetic alteration of carbonate macrofossils by continental fluids (and possibly seawater) is a common feature to 320 mbsf.

(Table 1) Lipid and organochlorine content in blood of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in Svalbard

Female common eiders (Somateria mollissima) starve during the nesting stage and may lose 30-45% of their initial body mass, mostly through lipid mobilization. In this study, the effects of fasting on the blood concentrations of three lipid-soluble organochlorines (OCs: polychlorinated biphenyl [PCB]-153; 1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl) ethylene [p,p'-DDE]; and hexachlorobenzene [HCB]) were examined in eiders breeding in the high Arctic. Blood samples were taken from females (n = 47) at day 5 and day 20 of the incubation period. The mean wet weight concentrations of PCB-153 and p,p'-DDE increased strongly between day 5 and day 20 (3.6 and 8.2-fold, respectively), while HCB increased less (1.7-fold). There was a strong negative association between daily increase in PCB-153 and clutch size, and a weaker relationship for p,p'-DDE, suggesting that maternal transfer to the eggs is a significant pathway of elimination of OCs in eiders. Moreover, poor body condition (body mass controlled for body size) late in the incubation period was associated with strong daily increase of both p,p'-DDE and PCB-153, which may suggest that the release of these compounds increases when lipid reserves become depleted. For HCB, the increase was mainly associated with increase in blood lipid concentrations, and weakly to the amount of burned lipids. The causes for the differences between the compounds are, however, poorly understood. Although the absolute levels of OCs in eiders were relatively low, their rapid build-up during incubation is worrying as it coincides with poor body condition and weakened immune systems.

(Table 1) Foraging trip characteristics of male Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) during their first incubation trip at Pointe Géologie

Knowledge of habitat use by top marine predators in response to environmental conditions is crucial in the current context of global changes occurring in the Southern Ocean. We examined the at-sea locations of male Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) breeding at Dumont d'Urville during their first, long incubation trip. Compared with the chick-rearing period, penguins performed longer trips, going to oceanic waters as far as 320 km from the colony. We observed 3 strategies: (1) five individuals covered large distances to the north, targeting open-ocean areas and following the currents of two persistent eddies; (2) five individuals foraged to the north-west, close to the Antarctic shelf slope at the limit of the pack ice; and (3) three individuals covered much shorter distances (northwards or eastwards). The foraging range also seemed to be limited by the body condition of the penguins before their departure to sea.

Contiunous surface water uncorrected and quench-corrected active fluorescence and derived chlorophyll a concentration using calibration by HPLC pigments during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXV/1

The relationship between phytoplankton assemblages and the associated optical properties of the water body is important for the further development of algorithms for large-scale remote sensing of phytoplankton biomass and the identification of phytoplankton functional types (PFTs), which are often representative for different biogeochemical export scenarios. Optical in-situ measurements aid in the identification of phytoplankton groups with differing pigment compositions and are widely used to validate remote sensing data. In this study we present results from an interdisciplinary cruise aboard the RV Polarstern along a north-to-south transect in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in November 2008. Phytoplankton community composition was identified using a broad set of in-situ measurements. Water samples from the surface and the depth of maximum chlorophyll concentration were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), flow cytometry, spectrophotometry and microscopy. Simultaneously, the above- and underwater light field was measured by a set of high spectral resolution (hyperspectral) radiometers. An unsupervised cluster algorithm applied to the measured parameters allowed us to define bio-optical provinces, which we compared to ecological provinces proposed elsewhere in the literature. As could be expected, picophytoplankton was responsible for most of the variability of PFTs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Our bio-optical clusters agreed well with established provinces and thus can be used to classify areas of similar biogeography. This method has the potential to become an automated approach where satellite data could be used to identify shifting boundaries of established ecological provinces or to track exceptions from the rule to improve our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean.

(Table 1) Sample levels of diatom and silicoflagellate datums at DSDP Holes 69-504 and 69-505

A standard biostratigraphic system, based upon diatom datum levels previously correlated to the paleomagnetic record, was applied to Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 501/504 and 505. Sedimentation appears to have been constant at the three sites, averaging 50 m/m.y. at Sites 501/504 and 60 m/m.y. at Site 505. Calcium carbonate is rather poorly preserved at both sites, because of depth of water and, at Sites 501/504, alteration by diagenesis. Siliceous microfossils are common and moderately well preserved at the three sites; at Sites 501/504, diatoms disappear abruptly below the first occurrence of chert. The uppermost Miocene diatom assemblage occurs just above chert and is characterized by a strong dominance of Thalassionema and Thalassiothrix, which implies very high silica production during the latest Miocene; the chert probably is derived from a similar assemblage. In the earliest Pliocene, silica production appears to have decreased sharply; about 3 Ma, preservation of calcium carbonate also diminished, suggesting a shoaling of the CCD. At 2 Ma, there occurred a short interval of low production of both calcium carbonate and silica, which lasted into the earliest Pleistocene.