Species richness and abundance of benthic infauna found in lagoons along the Beaufort Sea Coast, 2018-ongoing

Quantitative benthic invertebrate surveys can be used to characterize and compare benthic community structure of nearshore Arctic lagoon systems. The Beaufort Lagoon Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research (BLE LTER) Core Program employs spatial sampling to compare benthic community structure among lagoon systems along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast and temporal sampling to track benthic community structure across the three major seasons of the Arctic (ice cover, break up, and open water). Ponar grabs, hollow-core drills (SIPRE corer), and 0.5 mm sieves are employed to quantitatively sample meiobenthic and macrobenthic communities during all three Arctic seasons. All invertebrate specimens are identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible, preserved in 100% ethanol, and enumerated. Wet weights in ethanol are also recorded.

定量底栖无脊椎动物（benthic invertebrate）调查可用于表征并对比北极近岸泻湖系统的底栖群落结构。波弗特泻湖生态系统长期生态研究（BLE LTER）核心项目采用空间采样手段，对比阿拉斯加波弗特海沿岸各泻湖系统的底栖群落结构；同时采用时间序列采样，追踪北极三大主要季节（冰封期、融冰期、无冰期）的底栖群落动态。本研究在北极三大季节中，均采用波纳采泥器（Ponar grabs）、空心钻（SIPRE corer）及0.5 mm孔径筛网，对小型底栖生物（meiobenthic）和大型底栖生物（macrobenthic）群落开展定量采样。所有无脊椎动物标本均被鉴定至可行的最低分类阶元（taxonomic level），以100%乙醇固定保存并计数，同时记录其乙醇湿重。