Abundance, biomass and secondary production of benthic megafauna on the Barents Sea shelf in 2008 and 2009 ...

• Main Authors: Degen, Renate, Jørgensen, Lis Lindal, Ljubin, Pavel, Ellingsen, Ingrid H, Pehlke, Hendrik, Brey, Thomas
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2016
• Subjects: Campaign of event; Basis of event; Location of event; Event label; Date/Time of event; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Secondary production as carbon; 58GS2008; 58JH2008; 90VY2008; 58GS2009; 58JH2009; 58JM2009; 90VY2009; G. O. Sars 2003; Johan Hjort 1990; Vilnyus; Jan Mayen; Barents Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.857279; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.857279

Megabenthos plays a major role in the overall energy flow on Arctic shelves, but information on megabenthic secondary production on large spatial scales is scarce. Here, we estimated for the first time megabenthic secondary production for the entire Barents Sea shelf by applying a species-based empirical model to an extensive dataset from the joint Norwegian- Russian ecosystem survey. Spatial patterns and relationships were analyzed within a GIS. The environmental drivers behind the observed production pattern were identified by applying an ordinary least squares regression model. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) was used to examine the varying relationship of secondary production and the environment on a shelfwide scale. Significantly higher megabenthic secondary production was found in the northeastern, seasonally ice-covered regions of the Barents Sea than in the permanently ice-free southwest. The environmental parameters that significantly relate to the observed pattern are bottom temperature ... : The dataset contains trawl data and environmental information from 398 stations sampled during the joint Norwegian-Russian Barents Sea Ecosystem Survey in 2008 and 2009. Megafauna was sampled with a Campelen 1800 bottom trawl. Here secondary production (mg carbon/m²/a) per station are given. The environmental information includes water depth (m), bottom water temperature (°C), salinity (psu), currents speed, standard deviation of sea ice concentration, and information about the sediment structure and the intensity of commercial trawling. ...