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Soft‐bottom macrofauna were sampled quantitatively in August 1994 in three undisturbed north Norwegian fjords. Samples were taken at 10, 25, 50 and 90 m depth in each fjord. The total number of taxa recorded was 399 and the number of specimens 22,017, inclusive of ten juvenile taxa with 1265 specimens, collected from a total sampling area of 4.8 m . The number of taxa per station varied from 75 to 171, the density from 1790 to 8723 individuals m , and the faunal diversity (Shannon‐Wiener H′) from 4.4 to 6.4. In general, the number of taxa increased with depth, whereas the highest densities were recorded at 10 and 25 m. The species richness was generally high at both small (alpha diversity) and larger (gamma diversity) spatial scales compared with other northern and off‐shore shelf areas. Species turnover (beta diversity) was greater across depths within fjords than within depths across fjords. Species community patterns were related to depth and sediment grain size. Statistical analyses undertaken indicat... |
