Benthic meiofauna diversity on the Northeast Greenland (NEG) shelf sediments during POLARSTERN cruise PS109

Between September and October 2017, MUC cores were deployed at various locations across the Northeast Greenland (NEG) shelf with R/V Polarstern during PS109. Samples for meiofauna were collected with a cut-off 10 ml syringe (area 1.89 m²) that was inserted to 5 cm depth sediment depth in the MUC core, and subsequently sliced in 5 horizons of 1 cm. Afterwards, meiofauna were extracted from the samples by triple density centrifugation with the colloidal silica polymer LUDOX TM 40 (Heip et al., 1985) and rinsed with freshwater on stacked 1 mm and 32 µm mesh sieves. The fraction retained on the 32 µm mesh sieve was preserved in 4 % Li2CO3-buffered formalin and stained with Rose Bengal. All metazoan meiobenthic organisms were classified at higher taxonomic levels and counted under a stereoscopic microscope (Leica MZ 8, 16x5x).