Distribution and composition of macrozoobenthic communities along a Victoria-Land transect (Ross Sea, Antarctica)

The Victoria-Land Transect Cruise with the Italian research vessel "Italica", carried out in February 2004, was the first large-scale attempt to obtain benthic samples systematically along a latitudinal transect on the Antarctic Ross Sea shelf. Data presented from this survey are based on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Rehm, Peter, Thatje, S., Arntz, Wolf, Brandt, A., Heilmayer, Olaf
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Antarctic
Cape Russell
Italica
Ross Sea
The Antarctic
Victoria Land
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/14111/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/14111/1/Reh2006a.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0115-8
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.24447
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.24447.d001
Description
Summary:The Victoria-Land Transect Cruise with the Italian research vessel "Italica", carried out in February 2004, was the first large-scale attempt to obtain benthic samples systematically along a latitudinal transect on the Antarctic Ross Sea shelf. Data presented from this survey are based on Rauschert dredge samples, which were taken at four areas at depth ranging from 84 m to 515 m. A cluster analysis based on relative numbers of abundance was performed and demonstrated a change in community structure depending on the location along the latitudinal transect, a change in community structure with depth was not recorded. Dominant taxon of the Ross Sea fauna were the Arthropoda (61 %), followed by Polychaeta (20 %), Mollusca (14 %) and Echinodermata (3 %). Total number of abundance decreased with depth with an exception at Cape Russell, whereas a trend in biomass was not documented. Abundance and biomass proportions of major taxa changed gradually along the latitudinal transect.

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