Characterisation and sampling of the macrobenthic community structure of coastal sublittoral soft bottom habitats in Antarctica

Biological interactions and physical disturbances are thought to be important in determining community structure on the small scale and oceanographic characteristics probably account for much of the variation in soft bottom community structure between the east and west sides of McMurdo Sound. The aim of this study was to describe the macro benthic communities in relation to mechanisms generating patchiness in the spatial arrangement of macrofauna.

The macro benthic community structure of coastal sub littoral soft bottom habitats was characterised with samples collected to assess the abundance and diversity of macrofauna from soft sediment habitats at four sites in New Harbour, 2 sites in Salmon Bay and one site at McMurdo Station. Core samples of the sediments of the sea floor were collected by diving. The large organisms living in the sediments were extracted by sieving the sediments on a 0.5mm mesh.