Benthic biodiversity and food web structure in the European sector of the Arctic Ocean during spring time
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Abstract
Arctic marine ecosystems are currently facing sea ice decrease. Changes in the sea ice cover will influence the Organic Matter (OM) fluxes to the bottom and thus benthic communities. We aimed to examine meio- and macrobenthic biodiversity and community structure, and food web, with use of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N), in relation to depth, sea ice type, and bloom stage. Benthic samples were collected in Svalbard area during spring time in 2015 and 2016 along with samples of particulate and sediment OM. Svalbard fjords, Storfjorden, Barents Sea shelf, continental slope, and Nansen Basin were characterized by different environmental settings including various sea ice conditions, bloom stage, sediment OM and particulate OM in bottom water. The highest biodiversity and biomass were found at the shelf and slope stations where intensive bloom was observed and was related to higher concentrations of fresh, high-quality OM. Low benthic infaunal diversity, abundance, and biomass were noted in fjords and deep stations where quality and quantity of OM was markedly lower. Deposit feeders were the only feeding guild sampled in the deep stations while at other stations 3-4 trophic levels were found.
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2018. Benthic biodiversity and food web structure in the European sector of the Arctic Ocean during spring time. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26660v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.26660v1Author comment
This is an abstract which has been accepted for the WCMB.
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Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Barbara Oleszczuk performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.
Katarzyna Grzelak analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.
Monika Kędra conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
For ethical reasons to maintain confidentiality.
Funding
We would like to thank Polish National Science Centre projects no: 2015/19/B/NZ8/03945 and 2016/20/S/NZ8/00432. Presented material was collected during cruises of R/V Helmer Hanssen ARCEx2016 and R/V Polarstern TRANSSIZ (ARK XXIX/1; PS92), the latter carried out under grant number AWI_PS92_00 and organized by Arctic in Rapid Transition (ART). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.