Distribution, Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Macroinvertebrates on the Canadian Continental Shelf and Slope of Southern Davis Strait and Ungava Bay

Stewart, Patrick L.; Pocklington, Patricia; Cunjak, Richard A.

doi:10.14430/arctic2147

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Chukchi Sea : Feder et al 1994; Canadian shelf areas: Thomson 1982, Stewart et al 1985. Although the total number of taxa (712) reported here at 87 stations include 505 species, they represent only ~35% of that observed in the whole Barents Sea area (Zenkevich 1963, Sirenko 1998, the Pechora Sea can be regarded as considerably species-rich.…”

Section: Diversity and Community Structurementioning

confidence: 68%

Macrozoobenthos of the Pechora Sea (SE Barents Sea): community structure and spatial distribution in relation to environmental conditions

Denisenko¹,

Денисенко²,

Lehtonen³

et al. 2003

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Extensive investigations on macrozoobenthic communities of the Pechora Sea (SE Barents Sea), carried out between 1991 and 1995, indicate that it is rich in terms of diversity, with a total of 712 taxa observed (505 identified to species level). Biomass distribution of zoobenthos varied greatly (2.6 to 1200 g m -2 wet wt). Average values recorded for the offshore areas are high for an Arctic environment, implying that the influence of the large Pechora River may extend far into the offshore area. In addition, intensive sedimentation of organic matter during the retreat of the highly productive ice-edge zone in the summer may also contribute to the observed high biomass. A method combining the abundance and biomass values of species was used to calculate an index approximating the production of each species. This index was used to distinguish the different community types in the area. In the study area, 13 benthic community types were identified, of which 2 main types covered most of the offshore areas. The concentration of total organic carbon (TOC) in the sediment was shown to have a strong influence on the diversity of the benthic communities, while both TOC and water depth affected the distribution of communities and the feeding mode of the dominant species. A community type consisting of surface deposit-feeders is the most widely distributed type in the area. Suspension feeders, however, dominate an extensive shallow offshore area. Boreal-Arctic species show a marked predomination (68.9%) in the whole Pechora Sea. The share of Arctic species is greater in the northern part influenced by cold water currents, while boreal species predominate in areas affected by warmer coastal waters. These observations indicate that the Pechora Sea functions as a transitional zone between boreal and Arctic biogeographic regions.KEY WORDS: Arctic · Biogeography · Community structure · Diversity · Macrozoobenthos · Pechora SeaResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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Section: Diversity and Community Structurementioning

confidence: 68%

Macrozoobenthos of the Pechora Sea (SE Barents Sea): community structure and spatial distribution in relation to environmental conditions

Denisenko¹,

Денисенко²,

Lehtonen³

et al. 2003

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Given the distance between the two sites, some of the biogeographic differences observed at species level may be due to geographic position of the study area, proximity to the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans, water mass origin, and relict distributions indicative of past environments (Ekman, 1953;Thorson, 1957;Lubinsky, 1980;Stewart et al, 1985).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most benthic studies in the Canadian Arctic have concentrated on the benthic macrofauna inhabiting northern fiords (Curtis, 1972;Hunter and Leach, 1983;Dale, 1985;Aitken et al, 1988;Dale et al, 1989;Syvitski et al, 1989;Aitken and Fournier, 1993;Aitken and Gilbert, 1996) and along the Arctic continental shelf (Curtis, 1975;Stewart et al, 1985;Cusson et al, 2007;Conlan et al, 2008). In terms of baseline information about benthic species and communities, Arctic open-ocean and nearshore environments remain understudied in comparison with southern locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic Marine Fauna and Flora of Two Nearshore Coastal Locations in the Western and Central Canadian Arctic

Brown¹,

Edinger²,

Hooper³

et al. 2011

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Baseline data on nearshore benthic macrofauna and flora assemblages are necessary for successful environmental monitoring in the Arctic, where major climate and industrial changes are underway, yet to date these environments remain understudied. This study used bottom video and benthic grab samples to compare shallow benthic marine (1 -40 m) floral and faunal distribution and composition in two nearshore locations in the Canadian Arctic with different geomorphic settings. Sachs Harbour, located on southwestern Banks Island, has a submergent soft-sediment shoreline with locally rapid coastal erosion, while Gjoa Haven, located on southeastern King William Island, has an emergent shoreline dominated by coarse ice-contact Quaternary sediments with little to no coastal erosion. Gjoa Haven's sediment-starved, heterogeneous nearshore area contributes to a more diverse macroalgal flora than is found at Sachs Harbour, where a continuous supply of sand and mud from thermally driven coastal erosion and muddy runoff produces a more homogeneous nearshore environment. Seventy-four species (10 macroalgae, 64 macrofauna) were recorded from southwestern Banks Island and 65 species (26 macroalgae, 39 macrofauna) from southeastern King William Island. Species composition differed greatly among locations and varied significantly among substrate and depth classes for grab-and video-sampled biota at Gjoa Haven and among depth classes for bottom video biota at Sachs Harbour. Faunally barren, shallow, mobile sand sheets were the dominant habitat sampled in Sachs Harbour. Gjoa Haven's habitats differed significantly along a depth gradient, with sand and gravel substrates covered by Fucus sp. at depths shallower than 10 m and muddy substrates with filamentous green algae, Coccotylus truncatus, and cerianthid anemones inhabiting water down to 40 m.

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“…Mean densities per station were used. Most data sets used in this study are from technical reports of the Department of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, but data from some regions (Southern Davis Strait and Ungava Bay) are from published literature (Stewart 1983, Stewart et al 1985. Data were obtained from many regions (Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Shelf: BM; Victoria Island: V; Hudson Bay: HB; James Bay: JB; Ungava Bay: UB; Frobisher Bay: F; Southern Davis Strait: DS) and allowed a broad east -west comparison of benthic assemblages across the Canadian Arctic.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kara Sea, Jørgensen et al 1999;Pechora Sea, Denisenko et al 2003). Benthic assemblages in the Canadian Arctic have been related to water mass temperature and primary production (Stewart et al 1985), depth and sediment texture (e.g. grain size) (for polychaetes, Bilyard & Carey 1979; for molluscs, Carey et al 1984), or grain size and the primary production of overlying water masses (Grebmeier & Barry 1991).…”

Section: Effects Of Abiotic Factors On Benthic Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity of benthic assemblages on the Arctic continental shelf: historical data from Canada

Cusson¹,

Archambault²,

Aitken³

2007

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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This study describes patterns of abundance, diversity, and assemblages of benthic macrofauna within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. A review of data reports and the published literature yielded 219 stations and 947 taxa from 7 sources in various regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (i.e. Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Shelf, Victoria Island, Hudson and James Bays, Frobisher Bay, Ungava Bay, and Southern Davis Strait). In general, we observed that eastern regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago showed greater values of species richness (or α diversity) than the western and central regions, whereas no specific patterns were observed for Shannon-Wiener's diversity (H') and Pielou's evenness (J') indices. The Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Shelf region exhibited high values of taxonomic distinctness (Δ + ), whereas Hudson Bay showed low values. However, the Hudson Bay region showed high values of turnover (β W ) diversity. A non-metric multi-dimensional scaling plot of similarity (Bray-Curtis index) and analysis of similarity revealed that species composition differed among regions, even those located in close proximity to one another. These investigations were conducted at different levels of taxonomic resolution (Species, Order, Class and Phyla) and the results demonstrated that most patterns were maintained up to the Order and Class level. A relatively small number of taxa, mainly annelids, were responsible for most of the dissimilarity among regions. Bottom salinity and temperature were the most important environmental variables (among depth of site, bottom temperature, salinity, physical and chemical sediment characteristics) for determining these assemblage patterns. Multiple regression analyses also demonstrated that variance in species richness and diversity (H') was best explained by variance in salinity (55 and 43% respectively). The analysis of a time series from Frobisher Bay revealed that the temporal (mo/yrscale) variability of assemblages was of the same order as the spatial (km-scale) variability among sites.KEY WORDS: Benthic assemblage · Meta-analysis · Historical data · Arctic macrobenthos · Multivariate analysis · α, γ, and turnover (β) diversity · Spatial and temporal variabilityResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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Distribution, Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Macroinvertebrates on the Canadian Continental Shelf and Slope of Southern Davis Strait and Ungava Bay

Cited by 28 publications

References 23 publications

Macrozoobenthos of the Pechora Sea (SE Barents Sea): community structure and spatial distribution in relation to environmental conditions

Macrozoobenthos of the Pechora Sea (SE Barents Sea): community structure and spatial distribution in relation to environmental conditions

Benthic Marine Fauna and Flora of Two Nearshore Coastal Locations in the Western and Central Canadian Arctic

Biodiversity of benthic assemblages on the Arctic continental shelf: historical data from Canada

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