Temporal and spatial variation in a high Arctic bedrock macrobenthic community in Hinlopen, Svalbard. A baseline study related to possible climatic change

Abstract

Zonation patterns within a high Arctic, hard bottom community within the Hinlopen Strait, Svalbard were investigated using image analysis of underwater photoquadrates. This long term study consists of depth transects taken over a six year period were on a sublittoral vertical wall permanent monitoring station. Analysis indicated that the depth in which the greatest number of species occurred increased from 15m down to 30-35m throughout the study. Zonation patterns were indeed present within the Arctic sublittoral community in two distinct subzones; infralittoral and circalittoral. The circalittoral subzone can be divided further into an upper and lower zonation pattern due to the presence of depth related organisms such as the mollusc Chlamys islandica, the cnidarian Capnella glomeratum, and the echinoderms Gorgonocephalus spp, Henricia spp and Pteraster spp. Depth and total sea ice cover were tested as predictors for the variation in community structure between years. All together the two environmental parameters accounted for 26% of the variation. Depth explained the greatest proportion of variation within the community structure between years. Keywords: Arctic, Zonation, Macrobenthos, Image Analysis, Sublittoral, Diving, Time series, Front Cover: