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<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-4443</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Reviews and Syntheses:&amp;nbsp;Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Analysis of Antarctic Macroalgae: a 35-Year Record for Environmental Change</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Alldred</surname>
<given-names>Freya Catherine</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7166-2875</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gröcke</surname>
<given-names>Darren</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2296-7530</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>03</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>43</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Freya Catherine Alldred</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4443/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4443/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4443/egusphere-2026-4443.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-4443/egusphere-2026-4443.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Stable isotope analysis for Antarctic macroalgae has received minimal research interest outside of trophic ecology. However, carbon (&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C) and nitrogen (&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N) isotope analysis provides insights into nutrient uptake, productivity and response to environmental change. This review collates all available CN, &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N and &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C data available for macroalgae from the Antarctic continent. Fieldwork was also carried out in late 2023 to the northern West Antarctic Peninsula to collect specimens for stable isotope analysis. Prior to the 2023 survey, only 29 publications were found spanning a 35-year period from 1987&amp;minus;2022 with a strong bias towards data collection in the South Shetland Islands. A bias was found towards the Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta phyla, with &lt;em&gt;H. grandifolius&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Desmarestia&lt;/em&gt; sp. being the most studied species. This review highlights Antarctic seaweeds had a lower average CN compared to the global average, likely driven by the non-nitrogen limiting environment. Both &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N and &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C varied between species as well as spatially, &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C recorded a wider range (~25 &amp;permil;) than for &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N (~16 &amp;permil;). Spatial variation is assumed to be driven by site specific differences as well as latitudinal changes with light availability. &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C was more negative for the Rhodophyta phylum, with some species plotting below &amp;ndash;30 &amp;permil;, however no significant difference was found between Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta species for &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C and all recorded average &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C values indicative of both passive CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; uptake and carbon concentration mechanism use. When plotted temporally, &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C showed variation with sea ice extent across the 35-year record. Within the last decade, both sea ice extent and macroalgae &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C became more variable and suggesting an unexplored link between primary producer response and sea ice instability. Significantly more research is required for stable isotope analysis of Antarctic seaweeds. Variability in both &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N and &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C will impact trophic food web studies, both spatially and temporally. There is a lack of data for sites outside of the Antarctic Peninsula as well as ~100 species currently having no data available. This review also highlights the potential for macroalgae to be an additional proxy for monitoring primary producer response to ongoing climatological changes for the Southern Ocean.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>UK Research and Innovation</funding-source>
<award-id>IAPETUS2 NE/S007431/1</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
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