A multidisciplinary western Beaufort Sea Ecological Cruise
(WEBSEC) was conducted from August 15 to September 20, 1971.
During the cruise, one hundred ninety-nine 0.1 m² Smith-McIntyre
grabs samples were taken at forty stations located on the continental
shelf and slope of the western Beaufort Sea. The Gammaridean
Amphipoda and Cumacea collected were sorted and identified.
Each sample was analyzed for the number of species and specimens
within those groups. The data for all samples at each station were
pooled to obtain station data; these were analyzed for abundance,
diversity at each station, and similarity between stations.
Environmental parameters including sediment data, temperature,
salinity and organic carbon content measured during the
same cruise were also analyzed for each station.
The diversity indices chosen were the Simpson index (SDI)
and the Shannon-Wiener index (H'[subscript e]). The results obtained show a e
relatively high diversity and animal density in the outer continental
shelf, but low diversity values on the inner continental shelf and
slope. The lowest SDI value obtained is 0.43 at 2572 m depth.
The SDI values on the outer continental shelf are higher than 0.9 and
compare well with values obtained in more temperate regions.
The similarity between stations is low, and the percentage of
rare species found is high. This indicates a patchy distribution of
the Amphipoda and Cumacea fauna.
The variability of the processes affecting the benthic environment
of the western Beaufort Sea suggest that more intensive and
seasonal studies are necessary in order to understand the seasonal
as well as the annual variation of the infauna of the western Beaufort
Sea. / Graduation date: 1976
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29261 |
| Date | 18 August 1975 |
| Creators | Castillo Alarcon, Jorge Gonzalo |
| Contributors | Carey, Andrew G. Jr |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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