How many macrozoobenthic species might inhabit the Antarctic shelf?

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: GUTT, JULIAN, SIRENKO, BORIS I., SMIRNOV, IGOR S., ARNTZ, WOLF E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2004
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102004001750; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102004001750

Based on data from the Weddell Sea in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, the total number of macrozoobenthic species was estimated for the entire Antarctic shelf using species-accumulation methods, jack-knife estimators, and Incidence-based Coverage Estimators of species richness. Ranging between 11 000 and 17 000 expected species, Antarctica seems to have an intermediate species richness when compared to other selected tropical, temperate or Arctic habitats.