Pavlova Lyudmila V, Dvoretsky Alexander G, Frolov Alexander A, Zimina Olga L, Evseeva Olga Yu, Dikaeva Dinara R, Rumyantseva Zinaida Yu, Panteleeva Ninel N
Murmansk Marine Biological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MMBI RAS), 183010 Murmansk, Russia.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 15;13(14):2320. doi: 10.3390/ani13142320.
The continental shelf of the northeastern Barents Sea is presently experiencing a weak influx of Atlantic water from the west. In recent times, warming in Arctic regions has led to an increase in extended ice-free periods in this area, instead of significantly elevating water temperatures. The implications of this phenomenon on the structure and functioning of benthic communities were investigated during the autumn of 2019 within the Makarov Strait, located in the southwestern part of the St. Anna Trough. The macrozoobenthic communities exhibited a clear connection with the duration of ice-free periods. This variable influenced a vertical carbon flux, which subsequently served as the primary predictor for faunal abundance and diversity, as demonstrated by redundancy and correlation analyses. Two faunal groups were identified, corresponding to short and long open-water periods. Both groups had similar alpha diversity (65 ± 6 and 61 ± 9 species per station) and biomasses (39 ± 13 and 47 ± 13 g m) but displayed differing abundances (1140 ± 100 vs. 4070 ± 790 ind. m) and other diversity indices. We observed a decline in the proportion of polychaetes, accompanied by an increase in the proportion and diversity of bivalves, as well as a rise in the abundance of infaunal species, sub-surface deposit feeders, and mobile suspension feeders, in response to the increasing vertical carbon flux. The potential increase in anthropogenic pressures related to oil development in the northeastern Barents Sea highlights the importance of our study for conservation and monitoring efforts in the region.
巴伦支海东北部的大陆架目前正经历着来自西部的大西洋水的微弱涌入。近年来，北极地区的变暖导致该地区无冰期延长，而不是显著提高水温。2019年秋季，在圣安娜海槽西南部的马卡罗夫海峡对这一现象对底栖生物群落结构和功能的影响进行了调查。大型底栖动物群落与无冰期的持续时间有着明显的联系。如冗余分析和相关性分析所示，这一变量影响了垂直碳通量，而垂直碳通量随后成为动物丰度和多样性的主要预测指标。确定了两个动物类群，分别对应短无冰期和长无冰期。两个类群的α多样性（每站65±6种和61±9种）和生物量（39±13克/平方米和47±13克/平方米）相似，但丰度（1140±100个/平方米与4070±790个/平方米）和其他多样性指数不同。我们观察到，随着垂直碳通量的增加，多毛类动物的比例下降，双壳类动物的比例和多样性增加，以及底内动物物种、亚表层沉积物摄食者和移动悬浮摄食者的丰度上升。与巴伦支海东北部石油开发相关的人为压力的潜在增加凸显了我们的研究对该地区保护和监测工作的重要性。
