Preface The expedition ARK XIX/3 with the German icebreaking RV ...

References
Milkov, A., Vogt, P., Cherkashev, G., Ginsburg, G., Chernova, N., Andriashev, A., 1999. Seafloor
terrains of Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano as surveyed by deep-tow video and still
photography. Geo-Mar. Lett. 19, 38-47.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Laurent Mear from IFREMER and Kerstin Jerosch (AWI) for their
help with Adélie and GIS. Jan Wegner kindly helped with the preparation of the
lander. Claude de Broyer kindly identified amphipods caught by the traps.
B. 5.6 The macro- and microscale patchiness of meiobenthos associated with the
Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano.
Vanreusel, A.
Introduction
Participation to the ARK XIX/3b cruise to the Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano fits within a
larger PhD project that aims at understanding the importance of different
topographical structures on the seafloor for the present diversity patterns of
meiofauna, and in particular Nematoda along European continental margins (between
500 and 1500m water depth). It will be investigated to what extent the local (alpha)
and regional (gamma) biodiversity increase in relation to the large topographic
structures such as mounds and banks, and in relation to biogenic and biochemical
gradients present along pock marks, seeps and mud volcanoes. Along these seafloor
structures, estimations will be made of the species turnover (beta diversity) of the
Nematoda (the frequency by which species appear of disappear along a gradient in
the habitat), and to what extent nematode species do show special adaptations to
these extreme environments. Also small scale patchiness will be examined, in order
to estimate its importance for the present local biodiversity.
The aim of the sampling campaign was therefore threefold :
To sample the meiofauna (metazoans smaller than 1 mm) in order to investigate
changes in densities, biomass, size spectra, taxonomic composition and biodiversity
(morphological and molecular):
1. along a microscale gradient (meter to centimetre scale) at the Beggiatoa and
Pogonophora fields at the HMMV
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