ARCTIC Macrobenthos Communities of Cambridge, McBeth and

• Main Authors: Itirbilung Fiords, Alec E. Aitken, Judith Fourner
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Island; Canada; Greenland; Northwest Territories; Arctique*; Baffin; East Greenland; Terre de Baffin
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.453.355; http://arctic.synergiesprairies.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/1323/1348/

ABSTRACT. Thirtyeight marine invertebrates, including molluscs, echinoderms, polychaetes and several minor taxa, have b en added to the previously described benthic macrofauna inhabiting Cambridge, McBeth and Itirbilung fiords in northeastern Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. The fiords lie fully within the marine arctic zone and organisms exhibiting panarctic distributions constitute the majority of species collected from them. Macrobenthic associations recorded in the fiords are comparable, both with respect to species composition and habitat, to benthic invertebrate associations occurring on the Baffin Island continental shelf and i east Greenland fiords, reflecting the broad environmental tolerances of the organisms constituting the benthic associations. Deposit-feediig organisms dominate the fiord macrobenthos, notably nuculanid bivalves, ophiuroid echinoderms and elasipod holothurians. The foraging and locomotory activities of these organisms may influence benthic community structure by reducing the abundance of sessile and/or tubiculous benthos. Key words: marine benthos, eastern Baffin Island, fiords, continental shelf, zoogeography, ecology RfiSUMfi. Trente-huit invedbrts marins, y compris des mollusques, des khinodermes, des polychhtes et divers taxons mineurs ont et6 ajoutes a la macrofaune benthique dkrite prkedemment habitant les fjords Cambridge, McBeth et Itirbilung dans le nord-est de la terre de Baffin situ& dans les Temtoires du Nord-Ouest au Canada. Les fjords sont situts entihrement dans la zone arctique marine t des organismes affchant une distribution