Resumen de Spatial Patterns of Benthic Macro and Meiofauna Community Expressed by Variability in Environmental and Climatic Drivers in Deep Arctic Fjord System
P.P Krishnapriya, S. Bijoy Nandan, K. Hari Krishnan, Kottekkatu Padinchati Krishnan
In the global warming and climate change scenario, as the glacier melting is rising at a steady rate, it becomes crucial to understand the changes in spatial and temporal patterns in such environments and their impacts on the benthic macro and meiofauna communities; which has been least updated. The present study investigates the spatial distribution, abundance, and biomass of macro and meiobenthic communities and their responses to the varying environmental conditions of the deep sub-Arctic Kongsfjord. The study is the first of its kind from this region. Polychaeta (59%) represented the dominant phylum among macrofauna, while it was Nematoda (54%) among meiofauna during the investigation. The study documented 45 species of meiobenthic nematodes belonging to 20 families and the biomass of each species was estimated. A significant spatial variation was observed in the abundance of macrofauna, meiofauna and meiobenthic nematodes. The study established that changing depth profiles, salinity gradients, intrusion of high glacial melts (freshwater), clay silty composition of the sediment, and organic matter availability act as the major environmental drivers influencing the biocoenosis of benthic fauna in the Arctic Kongsfjord.
