New paper on Antarctic amphipods

New paper out in Antarctic Science! For this one, we looked at mouthpart morphology in several species of Southern Ocean amphipods. Specifically, we aimed to assess whether the tremendous ecological diversity found in Antarctic amphipods, that occupy many different ecological niches and hold an important place in food webs, was reflected in their mandible morphology, and if mouthpart specialization could be used to describe amphipod feeding habits. It turns out that while mandible morphology adequately depicted some aspects of amphipod trophic ecology (e.g. degree of dietary specialization, trophic position), links between mandible morphology and amphipod diet were seldom unambiguous or straightforward. Overall, mandible morphology on its own was generally not sufficient to precisely predict amphipod feeding strategies. However, when combined with other methods (e.g. gut contents, trophic markers), it constitutes a valuable source of information for integrative studies of amphipod ecological diversity in the Southern Ocean.

Read more at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102020000395