Affiliation:
1. Murmansk Marine Biological Institute RAS, Murmansk, Russia
Abstract
An autochtonous community of benthic diatoms has been discovered in upper bottom sediments in the central Barents Sea at depths down to 300 m. Their abundance and biomass analyzed suggest that the microalgae found represent a depleted fragment of the arctic littoral microphytobenthos. Compared to the coastal algal flora, the deep-water assemblage is characterized by low species diversity and demonstrates abundance of about 102– 103 cells per cm2 in the benthic. Until recently, the presence of benthic microalgae in marine ecosystems has been associated exclusively with the littoral and sublittoral coastal zones.
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