Bonner Laboratory and dive facility

The Bonner Laboratory supports marine and terrestrial long-term monitoring programmes and a broad range of specific shorter-term studies, many of which are supported by boat and year-round diving.

Bi-weekly (weekly in winter) measurements of sea temperature, salinity, water chlorophyll content as well as major nutrients provide data for the Rothera Time Series (RaTS) project, which has been ongoing since 1997.

Diver under the sea ice, admiring the foot of an iceberg. Rothera has a year-round diving program, unique in the Antarctic. Credit: Joe Marlow.

Diving supported long-term monitoring of the benthic community involves biodiversity studies, reproductive assessment of a wide range of invertebrate species, including different echinoderms, bivalves and nemerteans as well as monitoring of iceberg scour and its impact on the benthic community (Iceberg Impact Study, IBIS).

Sea cucumbers are filter feeders. They form an important part of the benthic community. Current projects involve seasonal studies of the physiology, feeding ecology and growth of different sea cucumber species. Credit: British Antarctic Survey.

Monitoring of the skua population on Rothera Point has been ongoing since 1999. The initial intention was to monitor possible impacts of the station, but the data also provide useful indicators of local prey availability at sea, effects of changes in sea-ice coverage etc.

South polar skua nesting in the long-term study area at Rothera Point (Adelaide Island). Photo credit: Richard Phillips.

Short term studies vary more in their requirements and range from in-situ data collection to collection and preservation of biological samples – for laboratory studies in Rothera or for return to the UK to support BAS projects at Cambridge and science at collaborating institutes worldwide. Recent projects have included:

• Assessing the impact of changing conditions (deglaciation, temperature rise) on the performance of local Antarctic macroalgae using PAM fluorometry and investigating the physiology of Antarctic macroalgae during the polar winter: how are they able to survive without light for a long period of time?
• Investigating how resilient Antarctic benthic communities are to destructive ice scouring impact exacerbated by climate change. In particular, we monitored the recovery of a shallow near coast benthic ecosystem in Ryder Bay a decade after a period of catastrophic high frequency ice scouring affected more than 50 % of the sea floor. This is in connection with the IBIS project. Additionally, we compiled a food web model of the benthic ecosystem in Ryder Bay to estimate potential changes in food web structure with increasing ice-scour impact and are looking at how prolonged periods of high intensity disturbance affects competitive interactions in benthic secondary consumers.
• Researching growth and seasonality in shallow Antarctic benthos, specifically for sea cucumbers, sponges and anemones. Using photogrammetry to measure growth in the Antarctic sponge Mycale acerata and the anemones Urticinopsis antarctica and Isotelia Antarctica and charting the seasonal physiology and diet of the sea cucumbers Heterocucumis steineni and Cucumaria georgiana. The aim is to relate the findings to the factors influencing the onset of summer feeding after winter dormancy.

Diving science projects at Rothera are varied and demanding and are at the cutting edge of polar marine biology.

Marine Biologist encounters a giant sponge nearly 20m below the surface. Gigantism may have played a role in the success of some Antarctic marine animals and is one aspect of efforts to understand how evolution has responded to climate change in the past. This image is associated with the 2005-2010 BAS science programme: BIOFLAME – Biodiversity, Function, Limits and Adaptation from Molecules to Ecosystems.

1. Changing biodiversity

   Baseline study to monitor how marine biodiversity will respond to climate change

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2. Monitoring climate change in action

   Since Near-shore Marine Biology was moved to Rothera in 1997, we have been conducting biological long-term monitoring in both the marine and terrestrial environments. These represent some of the longest continuous datasets in the Southern Ocean.

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3. Reproduction in a changing world

   Reproductive capacity and success of marine animals

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4. Resisting temperature change in the marine environment

   A research project studying temperature tolerances of over 20 Antarctic marine invertebrate species at Rothera Research Station.

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5. Rothera Time Series

   Earth System indicators in Antarctica

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6. Rothera Wharf

   Over the next decade Rothera Research Station will be upgraded to ensure its facilities keep the UK at the forefront of climate, biodiversity and ocean research.

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7. Skua monitoring at Rothera

   Long-term monitoring helps scientists understand how wildlife responds to environmental changes. Skuas are top predators, so their breeding success reflect wider ecosystem conditions.

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1. Rothera Marine Team – Overcoming challenges

   Working in Antarctica often means making the best out of what you got. For the Rothera 2022 wintering team, this meant spending a winter without diving, which had to be […]

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2. BLOG: On Thick Ice

   Rothera Field Guide Ed Luke is part of the skilled team who safely facilitate fieldwork year-round in Antarctica. In this blog, Ed takes us on the experience of conducting winter […]

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3. Bonner Laboratory featured at Global Biodiversity Festival 2021

   Rothera Marine Biologist Nadia Frontier and Rothera Marine Assistant Ryan Mathews spoke about the work of the Bonner Laboratory and dive facility at Rothera Research Station during the Global Biodiversity […]

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4. Blog: The Rothera marine team

   Nadia Frontier is the new Marine Biologist at Rothera Research Station. In her latest blog, Nadia takes us through safety training, wildlife sightings, and what it takes to dive successfully […]

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5. Blog: First experiences at Rothera

   Nadia Frontier is the new marine biologist at Rothera Research Station. In her blog below, Nadia takes us through arriving at Rothera, first impressions of the station, and Christmas celebrations! […]

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6. PODCAST – Iceworld, Episode 6 – Underwater

   Episode 6: Underwater Blue carbon capture, cold water gigantism, iceberg scouring, algal blooms…this episode covers a lot of ground! Rothera Field Guide Rob Taylor speaks with Aurelia Reichardt, Nadescha Zwerschke […]

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7. Celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2018

   To celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11th February), Zoe Waring, the Marine Assistant at Rothera Research Station, has written a blog about her work at British […]

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8. ANTARCTIC BLOG: meet Ali – Rothera’s lab manager

   I am sat gazing with child-like wonder through my office window at the huge snow-flakes falling outside and, despite the fact that the snowstorm is obscuring my usual spectacular view […]

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1. 6 March 2026: Postcard from Rothera Research Station

   Work continues at pace at Rothera Research Station, Antarctica. More areas of the Discovery building, our new scientific support and operations facility, are now handed over to us as we remove some of the legacy buildings.

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2. Labs in Antarctica and Cambridge Receive Sustainability Award

   Scientific labs at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in their Cambridge headquarters and at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica have achieved a sustainability award from the Laboratory Sustainability Efficiency Assessment (LEAF) […]

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3. Life in the slow lane

   A new study from British Antarctic Survey shows how five common Antarctic marine invertebrates (animals without a backbone) use less energy to feed, grow and reproduce than their temperate and […]

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4. Antarctic marine life may grow faster in a warming world

   A team of scientists has discovered that a 1°C rise in local sea temperature has massive impacts on an Antarctic marine community. These new results are published this week (31 […]

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