URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

The Importance of Krill: Impacts of Climate Change Trends on the Food Chain by Mary Grady

Brad Seibel Associate Professor Biology

“Phytoplankton are the very base of the food chain,” Seibel says. “Krill eat the phytoplankton, then penguins and whales and many other animals eat the krill.” In conjunction with long-term studies along the Palmer peninsula, Seibel’s study aims to determine the response of krill populations to climate change.

At the Palmer research station, perched on the rocky shore of tiny Anvers Island just outside the Antarctic Circle, the summer temperatures in February hover at about 36 degrees Fahrenheit. This chilly spot, surrounded by glaciers and icebergs, may seem an odd choice for a site to study the effects of global warming, but Brad Seibel, University of Rhode Island (URI) associate professor of biology, is now in the second year of doing just that, investigating the effect of warming ocean waters on krill. These small shrimp-like crustaceans, only about two inches long, form a crucial link in the oceanic food chain.

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