Spatial distribution patterns in macrobenthos along a latitudinal transect at the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
• Main Authors: Vedenin, Andrey, Budaeva, Nataliya, Mokievsky, Vadim, Pantke, Caroline, Soltwedel, Thomas, Gebruk, Andrey
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD 2016
• Subjects: Fram Strait
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38040/; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.47873

Spatial distribution patterns in macrobenthos were studied based on the material collected during the R.V. Polarstern expedition ARK-XXVII/2 in July 2012. Eleven stations along the latitudinal transect at the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN in the Fram Strait were taken at depths of about 2500 m. Macrofauna was obtained using the USNEL box corer. A single core (0.25 m2) was taken at each station and four subcores (0.03 m2) were taken from each core and used for the quantitative analysis. The results suggest that the single highly variable macrobenthic community with the dominance of polychaetes Galathowenia fragilis and Myriochele heeri inhabits the studied area. The prevalence of a mosaic in the community structure with the grain size at least more than the size of a core was detected. However, several abundant species (e.g. the polychaetes Prionospio sp. and Galathowenia fragilis) tend to form patches at the scale less than a core (0.25 m2). Despite the lack of significant differences in species distribution patterns along the latitudinal transect, there is a slight difference in community structure between the northernmost and southernmost stations (~170 km apart), which can be explained by variations in environmental factors (e.g. higher food availability in the northern part of the transect).