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Shallow winter and summer macrofauna in a high Arctic fjord (79° N, Spitsbergen)

  • “Marine Biodiversity under Change”
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Abstract

Very little is known about benthic organisms surviving strategies in extreme winter conditions in polar areas. Most of the research conducted in Arctic has been carried out during the summer from depths available to research vessels. Our study is the first one conducted in winter within a high Arctic fjord at shallow depths. The main aim was to examine the patterns of diversity and community structure of shallow macrobenthos along the depth and distance-to-glacier gradients during winter in Kongsfjorden. The results are compared against reference sampling conducted during the summer. Samples were taken at four depth transects located along the shore of the fjord from the Kongsbreen glacier to the Ny-Ålesund settlement, in March 2009, when the fjord was frozen, with ice cover of 47 cm thickness and no signs of a phytoplankton bloom. The overall species abundance and biomass at shallow depths reached up to 11,800 ind. m-2 at 15 m and 180 g m-2 with over 120 taxa found in winter and another 26 taxa found in summer. Shallow benthic fauna stayed relatively stable throughout the year with carnivores and opportunistic species increasing in numbers during winter. The need for further studies on overwintering strategies of bottom fauna is stressed.

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Acknowledgements

The study was completed thanks to funding provided by grant ARCFAC-026129-2009-28: Winter shift in amphipods’ feeding strategy? (WinAMP) and financial support of Polish Ministry of Science, grant 1033/ARCFAC/2009/7 and grant 0252/B/P01/2009/36. This publication was originally presented at the Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromsø, January 2010. The support and initiative of ARCTOS and Arctic Frontiers are gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank MSc Wojtek Moskal for help and great company during the expedition to Ny-Ålesund. We would like to thank Prof. Howard Feder and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology PAS, Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712, Sopot, Poland

    Monika Kędra, Joanna Legeżyńska & Wojciech Walkusz

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Freshwater Institute, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N6, Canada

    Wojciech Walkusz

Authors
  1. Monika Kędra
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  2. Joanna Legeżyńska
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  3. Wojciech Walkusz
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Correspondence to Monika Kędra.

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This article belongs to the special issue “Marine Biodiversity under Change”.

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Table 6 List of all species found in this study
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Kędra, M., Legeżyńska, J. & Walkusz, W. Shallow winter and summer macrofauna in a high Arctic fjord (79° N, Spitsbergen). Mar Biodiv 41, 425–439 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-010-0066-8

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