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

Fig. C11-1: Graphical display of oxygen consumption rates during first deployment
of the respirometer (numbers indicating starting points of discrete incubations).
C. 12 Temporal variations in the meiobenthos along a bathymetrical gradient
(“Hausgarten”, Arctic): impact of climate oscillations
Hoste, E., Soltwedel, T., Vanhove, S., Vanreusel, A.
Introduction
The Arctic is one of the most extreme environments on this planet, with limited sunlight,
extremely low temperatures and a short growing season. These characteristics make
this environment very sensitive for small changes in climate. Former studies indicate a
change in benthic fauna community structure with varying biological and physical
environmental factors, due to climatic oscillations (AO, NAO, PDO and ENSO). These
oscillations induce cyclic changes in temperature, wind and precipitation, resulting in a
complex effect on the marine ecosystem. Effects on benthos were already studied in the
Barents Sea and Labrador Sea.
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