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Zoobenthic communities on hard-bottom habitats in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

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Abstract

Arctic hard-bottom locations are habitats for a variety of benthic organisms, which have been described by species occurrence, abundance, or biomass. However, only few studies have included descriptions of communities on such locations in the Arctic, whereas this has been frequently done for soft-bottom communities. Thus, the focus of this study is to determine a limited number of characteristic zoobenthic communities that occupy Arctic shallow subtidal habitats on hard-bottom locations in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. The habitats at these locations graded from bedrock near the surface to mixed bottom with pockets of loose gravel and sediments deeper. Samples were collected by divers in August and September 1996 and 1998 from two square frames (0.25 m2) from each of the depths 0–2.5–5–10–15–20–25–30 m at all transects except JUTT (max. 15 m) and OSSI (max. 5 m). Seven communities were identified after considering species dominance, similarity between species associations, and the potential role of conspicuous species in the communities. The communities were described as: 1—Amphipoda community; 2—Symplectoscyphus community; 3—Branched bryozoans community; 4—“Developed fauna” community; 5—“Impoverished fauna” community; 6—Balanus community; and 7—Bivalvia community. Segregation of communities was based on species dominance (biomass), as confirmed by multivariate analyses. Species primarily responsible for the establishment of communities were determined, and particularly the importance of barnacles (Balanus balanus) and Branched bryozoans (Eucratea loricata and Tricellaria ternata) is discussed. Macroalgae were of less importance for identification of communities and distributional patterns of zoobenthos.

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Acknowledgments

We thank SCUBA divers Michael Poltermann, Nikolaj A. Kovaltchouk, Øivind Tøien, and Bjørnar Seim who participated in sample collections. We are grateful to taxonomists at the Laboratory of Marine Research (ZIN RAS) for the identification of all zoobenthic groups that made possible an analysis of communities and N.A. Kovaltchouk (Komarov Botanical Institute, RAS) who provide the list of algal species collected within sampling sites. We thank Michael Greenacre for comments on multivariate statistics. Sverdrup Station of the Norwegian Polar Institute in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, is acknowledged for logistic support. This project was funded by the Research Council of Norway’s Arctic Light and Heat Programme and the Eastern Europe Programme. The publication was possible because of support of Norwegian Polar Institute, ARCTOS PhD Trainee School and Institute of Marine Research. We also thank Børge Holte and Carsten Hvingel (IMR) for supporting this work.

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  1. Institute of Marine Research, 9294, Tromsø, Norway

    Andrey Voronkov

  2. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Haakon Hop

  3. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT - Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Andrey Voronkov, Haakon Hop & Bjørn Gulliksen

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  1. Andrey Voronkov
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Correspondence to Andrey Voronkov.

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This article belongs to the special issue on the “Kongsfjorden ecosystem—new views after more than a decade of research,” coordinated by Christian Wiencke and Haakon Hop.

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Voronkov, A., Hop, H. & Gulliksen, B. Zoobenthic communities on hard-bottom habitats in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Polar Biol 39, 2077–2095 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1935-9

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