Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities.
Environmental gradients and their influence on benthic community structure vary over different spatial scales; yet, few studies in the Arctic have attempted to study the influence of environmental gradients of differing spatial scales on megabenthic communities across continental-scales. The current...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:84cf6b39d03b46369035b0ba0aa6d1b5 2023-05-15T14:51:09+02:00 Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. Virginie Roy Katrin Iken Philippe Archambault 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 https://doaj.org/article/84cf6b39d03b46369035b0ba0aa6d1b5 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4096404?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 https://doaj.org/article/84cf6b39d03b46369035b0ba0aa6d1b5 PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e100900 (2014) Medicine R Science Q article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 2022-12-31T02:23:53Z Environmental gradients and their influence on benthic community structure vary over different spatial scales; yet, few studies in the Arctic have attempted to study the influence of environmental gradients of differing spatial scales on megabenthic communities across continental-scales. The current project studied for the first time how megabenthic community structure is related to several environmental factors over 2000 km of the Canadian Arctic, from the Beaufort Sea to northern Baffin Bay. Faunal trawl samples were collected between 2007 and 2011 at 78 stations from 30 to 1000 m depth and patterns in biomass, density, richness, diversity, and taxonomic composition were examined in relation to indirect/spatial gradients (e.g., depth), direct gradients (e.g., bottom oceanographic variables), and resource gradients (e.g., food supply proxies). Six benthic community types were defined based on their biomass-based taxonomic composition. Their distribution was significantly, but moderately, associated with large-scale (100-1000 km) environmental gradients defined by depth, physical water properties (e.g., bottom salinity), and meso-scale (10-100 km) environmental gradients defined by substrate type (hard vs. soft) and sediment organic carbon content. We did not observe a strong decline of bulk biomass, density and richness with depth or a strong increase of those community characteristics with food supply proxies, contrary to our hypothesis. We discuss how local- to meso-scale environmental conditions, such as bottom current regimes and polynyas, sustain biomass-rich communities at specific locations in oligotrophic and in deep regions of the Canadian Arctic. This study demonstrates the value of considering the scales of variability of environmental gradients when interpreting their relevance in structuring of communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beaufort Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Baffin Bay PLoS ONE 9 7 e100900 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Virginie Roy Katrin Iken Philippe Archambault Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Environmental gradients and their influence on benthic community structure vary over different spatial scales; yet, few studies in the Arctic have attempted to study the influence of environmental gradients of differing spatial scales on megabenthic communities across continental-scales. The current project studied for the first time how megabenthic community structure is related to several environmental factors over 2000 km of the Canadian Arctic, from the Beaufort Sea to northern Baffin Bay. Faunal trawl samples were collected between 2007 and 2011 at 78 stations from 30 to 1000 m depth and patterns in biomass, density, richness, diversity, and taxonomic composition were examined in relation to indirect/spatial gradients (e.g., depth), direct gradients (e.g., bottom oceanographic variables), and resource gradients (e.g., food supply proxies). Six benthic community types were defined based on their biomass-based taxonomic composition. Their distribution was significantly, but moderately, associated with large-scale (100-1000 km) environmental gradients defined by depth, physical water properties (e.g., bottom salinity), and meso-scale (10-100 km) environmental gradients defined by substrate type (hard vs. soft) and sediment organic carbon content. We did not observe a strong decline of bulk biomass, density and richness with depth or a strong increase of those community characteristics with food supply proxies, contrary to our hypothesis. We discuss how local- to meso-scale environmental conditions, such as bottom current regimes and polynyas, sustain biomass-rich communities at specific locations in oligotrophic and in deep regions of the Canadian Arctic. This study demonstrates the value of considering the scales of variability of environmental gradients when interpreting their relevance in structuring of communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Virginie Roy Katrin Iken Philippe Archambault |
author_facet |
Virginie Roy Katrin Iken Philippe Archambault |
author_sort |
Virginie Roy |
title |
Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
title_short |
Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
title_full |
Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
title_fullStr |
Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental drivers of the Canadian Arctic megabenthic communities. |
title_sort |
environmental drivers of the canadian arctic megabenthic communities. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 https://doaj.org/article/84cf6b39d03b46369035b0ba0aa6d1b5 |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Bay |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay |
genre |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beaufort Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beaufort Sea |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e100900 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4096404?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 https://doaj.org/article/84cf6b39d03b46369035b0ba0aa6d1b5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100900 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
e100900 |
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1766322205289873408 |