<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

 Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean are well recognized as one of the richest ecosystems in the world’s ocean, being at the same time the most vulnerable to climate change. Such vulnerability affects the distribution of water masses, thus influences the pelagic species dispersal and local diversity.
 For certain reasons some plankton species can be used as indicators of water mass distribution. Although the use of copepods and chaetognaths in such a manner is well documented, still little is known about the potential of pelagic Coelenterata as possible indicator species; they are still poorly investigated in this part of the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, a survey of these gelatinous animals was conducted in a transect between the Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents Seas in summer 2011. A total of 21 taxa were encountered and the most abundant was Aglantha digitale. Species distribution coupled with hydrological analysis of the investigated area enabled us to establish the water mass indicator taxa. Therefore, A. digitale was connected with the Atlantic Water Mass, while Bougainvillia superciliaris and large numbers of ctenophores were correlated with the Arctic Water Mass.
 The results presented herein may provide the basis for developing new tools to analyze changes in the Arctic Ocean.
</abstract>

Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean are well recognized as one of the richest ecosystems in the world’s ocean, being at the same time the most vulnerable to climate change. Such vulnerability affects the distribution of water masses, thus influences the pelagic species dispersal and local diversity.
 For certain reasons some plankton species can be used as indicators of water mass distribution. Although the use of copepods and chaetognaths in such a manner is well documented, still little is known about the potential of pelagic Coelenterata as possible indicator species; they are still poorly investigated in this part of the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, a survey of these gelatinous animals was conducted in a transect between the Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents Seas in summer 2011. A total of 21 taxa were encountered and the most abundant was Aglantha digitale. Species distribution coupled with hydrological analysis of the investigated area enabled us to establish the water mass indicator taxa. Therefore, A. digitale was connected with the Atlantic Water Mass, while Bougainvillia superciliaris and large numbers of ctenophores were correlated with the Arctic Water Mass.
 The results presented herein may provide the basis for developing new tools to analyze changes in the Arctic Ocean.

Pelagic coelenterates in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean − species diversity and distribution as water mass indicators

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean are well recognized as one of the richest ecosystems in the world’s ocean, being at the same time the most vulnerable to...

Pelagic coelenterates in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean − species diversity and distribution as water mass indicators

Published Online: Dec 09, 2015

Page range: 466 - 479

Received: Mar 24, 2015

Accepted: May 25, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2015-0044

Keywords
gelatinous zooplankton, water mass indicators, Arctic Ocean, Coelenterata

© 2015 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdansk, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Pelagic coelenterates in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean − species diversity and distribution as water mass indicators

Published Online: Dec 09, 2015

Page range: 466 - 479

Received: Mar 24, 2015

Accepted: May 25, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2015-0044

Keywordsgelatinous zooplankton, water mass indicators, Arctic Ocean, Coelenterata

© 2015 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdansk, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
gelatinous zooplankton, water mass indicators, Arctic Ocean, Coelenterata