The Antarctic paradox in ecology is an expression that describes the phenomenon that in vast areas of the Antarctic Ocean the phytoplankton does not grow very well despite the abundance of nutrients for its optimum growth.
Among the reasons given there is the low availability of light due to the mass of ice overlying. At the same time a large number of pluricellular organisms (copepods, krill, whales) are found due to the enormous phytoplankton biomass (predominantly diatomaceous) that develops within the ice, especially in the lower portion; this, during the summer season with ice melting, becomes available to the herbivore community of zooplankton.
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