| Summary: | Progress Code: completed Statement: See the report for further information. Taken from the biology report for Davis Station, 1982, prepared by Mark Tucker. A hardcopy of the report and field books are available in the Australian Antarctic Division library, and pdf copies of the report and field books are available for download at the provided URLs. Introduction The year biology programme for the 1982 season was divided amongst three persons into Phytoplankton, Chlorophyll, Invertebrates and Fish. As the zoologist, I will therefore concentrate on the animal, aspect. The aims of this programme as outlined in the ARPAC approved "A survey of the inshore marine area of Davis" are: 1) A systematic investigation to determine the flora and fauna of the marine inshore environment. 2) To explain their distribution and abundance in response to environmental variables. The first aim can be divided into two categories: 1) Wide range collection of the benthic, planktonic, pelagic and epontic faunas from the inshore waters of the Vestfold Hills. 2) Quantitative examination of the seasonal and distributional changes of the more common species. Most of the wide range collecting of the benthos and to a certain extent the plankton was carried out over the 81/81 summer. Collections were made from as far north as the Wyatt Earp islands and in the south near the Sorsdal Glacier. As wide a coverage as possible of the Vestfolds was made plus a visit to the Rauer group on one occasion. The planktonic fauna was collected throughout the year on a monthly basis from three sites from January 82 to December 82 while the pelagic and epontic faunas were collected monthly from the same sites after fast ice formation - April to December. Additions were made to the benthic collections throughout the year if any previously uncollected or interesting specimens were observed. These collections have culminated in over 150 species. I would expect the total number of different species to be around 200 once all are identified. Representatives of all ...
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