MiniGrant List: 2006-2007

harpacticoid

Title: Benthic Copepoda Harpacticoida from Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen and succession of arctic meiofauna communities

Gritta Veit-Koehler
Principal Investigator
Dr. Gritta Veit-Köhler


Principal Investigator
Sybille Seifried

German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research, Senckenberg Research Institute, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Project goals
Analysis of meiofauna samples to exmaine the succession and diversity of harpacticoid communities on artifical substrates.

Results
The soft-bottom succession experiment in Arctic glacial Kongsfjorden revealed markedly different meiofauna communities on higher taxon level in one- and two-year exposures as compared to three-year exposure and ambient samples. This study revealed 37 species of harpacticoid copepods in the determined 1595 adult specimens. 15 species are new reports for the Spitsbergen area (5-100m depth), 4 of them are new to science. Thus the list of Harpacticoida known from shallow waters of the Svalbard archipelago has to be extended to 82 species.  The 37 species from Brandal belong to 16 families. Ectinosomatidae (10 species, 522 individuals) and Miraciidae (9 species, 188 individuals) are the most diverse families.  Proameira signata (Ameiridae, 502 individuals), Halectinosoma gothiceps (Ectinosomatidae, 247 ind.), and Danielssenia typica (Pseudotachidiidae, 238 ind.) were the overall most abundant species. Only Pseudobradya cf. pulchella (Ectinosomatidae) had high individual numbers (122 ind.) as well, while all other species did not reveal individual numbers higher than 100.  The 4 species new to science belong to the Canthocamptidae, Miraciidae, Ameiridae and Ectinosomatidae.  



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