Hydrozoan diversity on hard bottom in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard
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https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6401Date
2010Type
Journal articleTidsskriftartikkel
Peer reviewed
Abstract
Hydroids in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, were studied on five hard-bottom transects along gradients of environmental conditions
from the glacier at the fjord’s head to the fjord’s mouth at depth-range 0–30 m. Hydrozoa colonies are widely distributed on
rock and gravel substrata in Kongsfjorden. In general, however, hydroids are not dominant or subdominant in zoobenthic
communities. The exception is Symplectoscyphus tricuspidatus var. acuminatus, colonies of which were sometimes abundant
enough to determine the community structure and characteristics of benthic diversity. Of the 23 species recorded in this study,
Laomedea flexuosa, Phialella quadrata and Halecium tenellum as well as representatives of family Stylasteridae were
recorded from Svalbard waters for the first time. Hydroid diversity was highest in the zoobenthic community structured
by branched bryozoans. The abundance and distribution of hydroids were reduced, to some extent, in the inner part of
the fjord compared to the outer fjord. Species richness of hydroids was high at shallow depths, decreased at around 15 m
and then increased again to 30 m depth. Species with Low-boreal–Arctic and Panoceanic distributional ranges were the
most frequently occurring species. Depth, type of background substratum and amount of silt on its surface were the main
factors influencing hydroid distribution. Description of all recorded taxa distributions together with data on their habitat
and associations in zoobenthic communities are presented in an Appendix.
Description
This article is part of Andrey Voronkovs doctoral thesis, available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/6381
Publisher
Cambridge University PressCitation
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90(2010) nr. 7 s. 1337-1352Metadata
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