Effects of varying food-availability on ecology and distribution of smallest benthic organisms in sediments of the arctic Fram Strait during POLARSTERN cruise ARK-XV/2 ...

• Main Authors: Schewe, Ingo, Soltwedel, Thomas
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Publishing Network for Geoscientific and Environmental Data 2003
• Subjects: Arctic; Fram Strait; ice covered areas
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.15468/kz6jmr; https://www.gbif.org/dataset/97bc7c9c-f762-11e1-a439-00145eb45e9a

With the aims of investigating the response of the smallest benthic biota to a strong ice-edge-related input of phytodetritus, and of registering supposed lateral transportation processes of phytodetrital matter with northerly direction under the ice, we analysed a number of abiotic and biotic parameters in surface sediments from the northern Fram Strait. Two transects of 14 stations in total were made. One transect, crossing the Fram Strait from the east to the west, followed mainly the ice edge. The second transect extended latitudinally in a northerly direction, starting in ice-free areas, passing the ice edge, and ending in heavy ice-covered areas, approximately 100 nm north of the ice edge. Stations along this transect were sampled at almost constant water depths to avoid depth-related influences in our investigations. Results showed the expected high phytodetritus concentrations in the ice-edge vicinity. Concentrations of sediment-bound plant pigments were approximately 5 times higher than in ...