Arctic Marine Biodiversity Observation Network
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Epifauna

September 25, 2015 by Stacey Buckelew

C. opilio WB36-1-MaEpifauna refers to the animals living on top of the seafloor and some of them can have large size and many can be highly mobile. Typical representatives of the epifauna are echinoderms, gastropods and many decapod crustaceans (shrimp and crabs). Epifauna often has a strong relationship with the sediment characteristics, with more sessile, suspension-feeding taxa in regions with coarse substrate and high flow regimes and deposit-feeding taxa associated with low-flow, depositional regions. Epifauna diversity, biomass and abundance in AMBON is sampled from the beam trawls also used for fish sampling. [AMBON scientists: Katrin Iken, Bodil Bluhm]

AMBON Study Area

AMBON_2015_water_masses_a

A team of multi-disciplinary scientists are monitoring marine biodiversity in the U.S Arctic waters of the  Chukchi Sea. The  study stations (red circles) are shown together with the main water mass flow (arrows).

Arctic Ecosystem

Presentation1

The Arctic ecosystem has 3 main ecosystem realms: the sea ice provides habitat for small organisms and supports larger megafauna; the pelagic system includes both important primary producers and grazers; and the well-developed benthic system helps drive a complex food web.

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