Intertidal meiofauna of a high-latitude glacial Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) with emphasis on the structure of free-living nematode communities

Urban-Malinga, B.; Wiktor, J.; JablÃ³nska, A.; Moens, T.

Intertidal meiofauna of a high-latitude glacial Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) with emphasis on the structure of free-living nematode communities

2007

Urban-Malinga, B. | Wiktor, J. | JablÃ³nska, A. | Moens, T.

Meiofauna communities of four intertidal sites, two sheltered and two more exposed, in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) were investigated in summer 2001 at two different tidal levels (i.e. the low-water line and close below the driftline, referred to as mid-water (MW) level). A total of seven meiofaunal higher taxa were recorded with nematodes, oligochaetes and turbellarians being numerically dominant. Mean total meiofaunal densities ranged between 50 ind. 10 cmÂ² and 903 ind. 10 cmÂ². Our data showed a clear decrease in total meiofaunal densities with increasing coarseness of the sediment. Total meiofaunal biomass varied from 0.2 g dwt mÂ² to 2 g dwt mÂ² and, in general, was high even at low meiofaunal densities, i.e. larger interstitial spaces in coarser sediments supported larger meiofauna, especially turbellarians. The results on the vertical distribution of meiofauna contrasted

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