Community structure and spatial distribution of macrobenthos in the shelf area of the Bering Sea

• Published in: Acta oceanologica Sinica 2014-06, Vol.33 (6), p.74-81
• Main Authors: Wang, Jianjun, He, Xuebao, Lin, Heshan, Lin, Junhui, Huang, Yaqin, Zheng, Chengxing, Zheng, Fengwu, Li, Rongguan, Jiang, Jinxiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Aquatic crustaceans; Benthos; Biomass; Climate change; Climatology; Cluster analysis; Community structure; Crustaceans; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Echinarachnius parma; Ecology; Ecosystems; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Environmental Chemistry; Eudorella pacifica; Field investigations; Field tests; Fisheries; Harpiniopsis; Heterogeneity; Heteromastus filiformis; Macrobenthos; Marine; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Marine invertebrates; Mollusca; Mollusks; Oceanography; Ophiura; Scoloplos armiger; Shellfish; Shelving; Spatial distribution; Wet weight; Zoobenthos; 大型底栖动物; 海洋底栖动物; 生物量; 白令海; 相似性度量; 空间分布; 群落结构; 陆架区
• ISSN: 0253-505X; 1869-1099
• DOI: 10.1007/s13131-014-0491-9

Field investigations of marine macrobenthos were conducted at ten sites in the Bering Sea in July 2010. Altogether 90 species of macrobenthos belonging to 59 families and 78 genera were identified. Among them, 41 polychaetes, 16 mollusks, 23 crustaceans, three echinoderms, two cnidarians, one nemertean, one priapulid, two sipunculids, and one echiuran were identified. The average density and biomass of total macrobenthos were 984 ind./m2 and 1207.1 g/ma of wet weight, respectively. The predominant species in the study area were Scoloplos armiger, Eudorella pacifica, Ophiura sarsii, Heteromastus filiformis, Ennucula tenuis, and Harpiniopsis vadiculus by abundance, while the predominant species in this area was Echinarachnius parma by biomass. Hierarchical cluster analysis （Bray-Curtis similarity measure） revealed that two impor- tant benthic assemblages in the study area were CommunityA and Community B. CommunityA was stable and Community B was unstable, as shown by the Abundance/Biomass Comparisons （ABC） approach. The macrobenthic community structure in the shelf of the Bering Sea was characterized by its high abundance and biomass, high productivity but great heterogeneity.