The marine area of Northeast Greenland belongs to the largest national park in the world. Biodiversity assessments and tailored conservation measures often target specific physiographic or oceanographic features of an area for which detailed knowledge on their biological communities is incomplete. This study, therefore, characterizes epibenthic megafauna communities in a priori defined seabed habitats (fjord, shelf, shelf break and slope) and their relationship to environmental conditions in Northeast Greenland waters as a basis for conservation and management planning. Megabenthos was sampled from the Bessel Fjord across the shelf to the upper continental slope between latitudes 74.55°N–79.27°N and longitudes 5.22°W–21.72°W by Campelen and Agassiz trawls at 18 locations (total of 33 samples) at depths between 65 and 1011 m in August 2015 and September 2017. A total of 276 taxa were identified. Gross estimates of abundance ranged from 4 to 854 individuals 1000 m−2 and biomass ranged from 65 to 528 g wet weight 1000 m−2 (2017 only). The phyla Arthropoda and Porifera contributed the most to taxon richness, while Mollusca and Echinodermata were the most abundant, and Echinodermata had the highest biomass of all phyla. Fjord, shelf, shelf break and slope seabed habitats revealed different megafaunal communities that were partly explained by gradients in depth, bottom oxygen concentration, temperature, salinity, and turbidity. The present study provides a current baseline of megabenthos across seabed habitats in Northeast Greenlandic waters and reveals putative connections between Arctic and Atlantic biota.

中文翻译：

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格陵兰东北部的底栖巨型动物群落因沿海、大陆架和斜坡栖息地而异

格陵兰岛东北部海域属于世界上最大的国家公园。生物多样性评估和量身定制的保护措施通常针对一个地区的特定地貌或海洋学特征，这些地区对其生物群落的详细知识不完整。因此，本研究描述了先验定义的海底栖息地（峡湾、陆架、陆架断裂和斜坡）中的底栖巨型动物群落及其与格陵兰岛东北部水域环境条件的关系，作为保护和管理规划的基础。从贝塞尔峡湾跨大陆架到北纬 74.55°N–79.27°N 和西经 5.22°W–21 之间的上大陆坡采样巨型底栖动物。2015 年 8 月和 2017 年 9 月，Campelen 和 Agassiz 在 65 至 1011 m 深度之间的 18 个地点（共 33 个样本）进行了 72°W 拖网。共确定了 276 个分类群。丰度的总估计范围为 4 至 854 只个体 1000 m-2，生物量范围为 65 至 528 克湿重 1000 m-2（仅限 2017 年）。节肢动物门和多孔动物门对分类群丰富度的贡献最大，而软体动物和棘皮动物门最丰富，棘皮动物门的生物量最高。峡湾、陆架、陆架断裂和斜坡海底栖息地揭示了不同的巨型动物群落，部分原因是深度、底部氧气浓度、温度、盐度和浊度的梯度。