The Siberian Arctic is one of the regions, where the ongoing climate change is the most evident. There is limited knowledge available on the distribution of macrobenthic communities in the Siberian Arctic, their stability and functional structure. We used data from two latitudinal transects from the East Siberian Sea shelf to describe the distribution of macrobenthic communities as well as to identify the main environmental drivers responsible for the observed patterns. Almost all the studied area was under the direct influence of river runoff. Macrobenthic communities were dominated by the bivalve Portlandia arctica and were generally characterised by low species and functional diversity. We suggest that the observed pattern is a direct consequence of considerable river runoff combined with low primary productivity. The overall pattern of macrobenthic distribution corresponds well with the data obtained in the previous decades, suggesting long-term stability of these communities.

西伯利亚北极地区是持续气候变化最为明显的地区之一。关于西伯利亚北极大型底栖动物群落的分布、它们的稳定性和功能结构的知识有限。我们使用来自东西伯利亚海架的两个横断面的数据来描述大型底栖动物群落的分布，并确定对观察到的模式负责的主要环境驱动因素。几乎所有的研究区域都受到河流径流的直接影响。大型底栖动物群落以双壳类Portlandia arctica 为主并且通常具有物种和功能多样性低的特点。我们认为观察到的模式是大量河流径流与低初级生产力相结合的直接结果。大型底栖动物分布的总体模式与过去几十年获得的数据非常吻合，表明这些群落的长期稳定性。