In Situ Benthic Image Transects from the Disko Fan Conservation Area in the Davis Strait (Eastern Arctic)

In 2012 and 2013, Fisheries and Oceans Canada conducted benthic imagery surveys in the Davis Strait and Baffin Basin in two areas then closed to bottom fishing, the Hatton Basin Voluntary Closure (now the Hatton Basin Conservation Area) and the Narwhal Closure (now partially in the Disko Fan Conservation Area). The photo transects were established as long-term biodiversity monitoring sites to monitor the impact of human activity, including climate change, on the region’s benthic marine biota in accordance with the protocols of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) established by the Council of Arctic Flora and Fauna. These images were presented in a technical report that summarises the epibenthic megafauna found in seven image transects from the Disko Fan Conservation Area:
Baker, E., Beazley, L., McMillan, A., Rowsell, J. and Kenchington, E. 2018. Epibenthic Megafauna of the Disko Fan Conservation Area in the Davis Strait (Eastern Arctic) Identified from In Situ Benthic Image Transects. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3272: vi + 388 p.
Taxa from ten phyla (Annelida, Arthropoda, Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Chordata, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Nemertea, Porifera) were identified from the imagery and reported on a per photo basis in v.4. That data was analyzed to comply with CBMP recommendations. The average abundance (N), number of taxa (S), Margalef d, Shannon Diversity and Simpson’s Index with their Hill equivalents, and Pielou’s Evenness, were calculated for each transect. Bray-Curtis similarity in community composition among transects was calculated from log(x+1)-transformed standardized abundance. UPGMA cluster analysis identified three significantly different depth-related clades. S, N and d were significantly negatively correlated with depth. That work is summarized in:
Kenchington, E., Lirette, C., Treble, M., and Jacobs, K. 2022. Biodiversity Monitoring Stations for Benthic Megafauna in the Disko Fan Conservation Area. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3499: v + 75 p.
In this v.4 update the abundance of taxa in each photo are provided. Those data can be used to calculate the indices summarized in the 2022 report.