| Summary: | Bioturbating organisms provide a key function in marine environments and are generally considered ecosystem engineers. Still, our knowledge of bio- turbation activity in the Arctic deep sea remains relatively shallow. In this study the bioturbation of arctic deep sea macrobenthos in the LTER obser- vatory HAUSGARTEN was studied using multiple sampling devices collected with the research icebreaker Polarstern. The thesis yielded the following out- comes: (I) Spatial patterns in the bioturbation activity were detected and four distinct communities could be identified based on the bioturbation activity. (II) Statistically significant relationships between data gained from different sam- pling devices were proven: Bioturbation potential (BPc, giant box corer) and bioactive depth (BAD, sediment profile imagery) showed a positive relation- ship, which opens new possibilities in the assessment of bioturbation activity. (III) Environmental factors gained from sediment profile imagery and multiple corer samples were able to further categorize the spatial differences between the found communities and their respective habitats. The study found bio- turbation activity in the deep sea of Fram Strait to be similar with bioturbation activities calculated for other habitats (e.g, the German and Belgian North Sea and the English Channel). Bioturbation activity in Fram Strait, being vital for carbon sequestration and nutrient fluxes, was found to be carried out by only a few key species. By identifying new key species for bioturbation, this the- sis not only broadened our understanding of important ecosystem processes but also gave vital insights usable in future habitat and species protection. Sediment profile imagery proved to provide fast and only minimal invasive de- tection of important ecosystem functions and could therefore show to be a vital tool in future conservation management in the area. Masterarbeit Universität Innsbruck 2023
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