Summary
A comparative analysis of the relatively rich shelled gastropod and bivalve fauna of two transects from 200 to 2,000 m in the eastern Weddell Sea was done by trawls and multibox corer. Related to the unusual shelf topography, a characteristic pattern of abundance and species richness with depth and location is evidenced. Highest values of species richness are observed near the ice-shelf edge and from the rise of the shelf to some 800 m on the slope, and lowest values between 300 and 600 m on the inner slope. This anomalous pattern, not followed by the biomass, is interpreted as a consequence of both historical factors (problems of colonization of the shelf) and present food supply. Most of the species are eurybathic and eurytopic. Generally speaking, assemblages are patchy but tend to be arranged by depth zones.
Data presented here were collected during the European Polarstern Study (EPOS) sponsored by the European Science Foundation
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag
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Arnaud, P.M., Hain, S. (1992). Quantitative distribution of the shelf and slope molluscan fauna (Gastropoda, Bivalvia) of the Eastern Weddell Sea (Antarctica). In: Hempel, G. (eds) Weddell Sea Ecology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77595-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77595-6_11
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