Deep-sea megabenthos communities of the Eurasian Central Arctic are influenced by ice-cover and sea-ice algal falls.

ABSTRACT: Quantitative camera surveys of benthic megafauna were carried out during the expedition ARK-XXVII/3 to the Eastern Central Arctic Basins with the research icebreaker Polarstern in summer 2012 (2 August-29 September). Nine transects were performed for the first time in deep-sea areas previously fully covered by ice, four of them in the Nansen Basin (3571-4066m) and five in the Amundsen Basin (4041-4384m). At seven of these stations benthic Agassiz trawls were taken near the camera tracks for species identification. Observed Arctic deep-sea megafauna was largely endemic. Several taxa showed a substantially greater depth or geographical range than previously assumed. Variations in the composition and structure of megabenthic communities were analysed and linked to several environmental variab

SUBMITTER: Rybakova E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6634375 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature