Arctic Council Working Group Megabenthos
- Ecosystem: Marine
- Habitat: Benthos
- Publications: Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan
- AMA: Arctic Archipelago Arctic Basin Atlantic Arctic Beaufort Sea Davis-Baffin Hudson Complex Kara-Laptev Pacific Arctic
Jose Ortega
| FECs Group | Parameter | Attributes | Priority | Extreme Events | Scale | Complexity | Recurrance | Method | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Megabenthos | Abundance; community composition Diversity indices (e.g., Shannon, Simpson) Distribution |
Ideally, benthic stations are sampled in conjunction with plankton and fish stations for best ecosystem integration.
*Megafauna includes both sessile and motile epifaunal organisms > 1 cm (or larger than 4 mm), but this depends on the semi-quantitative trawl-net mesh size used, which is probably different for different programs. Macrofauna is infauna >1 cm and always sampled by quantitative grab. Caught by trawls (megafauna), larger than 1 mm (macrofauna), organisms 0.1-1mm (meiofauna), less than 0.1 mm (microfauna).
** Ideally, also dry weight and ash-free dry weight are taken.
***These are current monitoring gaps. Also benthic microflora is not covered in current activities. Note: Pan-Arctic taxa to focus on for size-frequency distribution: snow crabs, ophiuroids, and bivalves.Note: In addition to the listed biological parameters, it is critical that temperature, salinity, fluorescence, macronutrients (NO3, Si, PO4), and Chl a levels be measured. Sediment characteristics (grain size, Chl a, and organic carbon content) and satellite data for sea-ice extent are also needed to facilitate interpretation of the biological data. Ideally, benthic stations are sampled in conjunction with plankton and fish stations for best ecosystem integration.