Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics Department of Arctic and Marine Biology Soft-bottom communities in Balsfjord Stable over time or under change? — Nina Elisabeth Henriksen BIO-3950 Master thesis in Biology December 2015 Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics Department of Arctic and Marine Biology Soft-bottom communities in Balsfjord. Stable over time or under change? Nina Elisabeth Henriksen BIO-3950 Master thesis in Biology December 2015 Supervisor Einar Magnus Nilssen, The Arctic University of Norway UIT External supervisor Eiving Oug, NIVA, Norsk institutt for vannforskning Front page foto of Balsfjord (Svartnes area) by Geir Jenssen 2008 http://www.lyngen.name/henriktind/henriktind.html 09.12.15 iii Acknowledgment First of all I would like to thank my supervisors Einar Magnus Nilssen and Eivind Oug. Einar thank you so much for all your help and patience guiding me through both the writing process and the statistical world of SYSTAT. And Eivind for all your help with identification of the fabulous polychaetes and your feedback on my thesis. You are both a great inspiration! Thanks goes out to the crew at R/V Johan Ruud and Frode at R/V Hyas for all your help sampling in the field and your cheerful sprits. Always lovely being on board! To Mona and Katharina for help with identification and sorting. Thanks to Carl for proofreading my manuscript at such short notice. I owe you a beer! And all the girls at the office: Margrethe, Giovanna, Maria and Solveig. Thank you for all the good conversations on life, love and everything! A huge thanks go out to Beate Ulrikke for keeping an eye on me the last week before delivering. Thanks for keeping me sane! And Emma, without you I would not be here right now. Chance meetings. And thank you so much for reading through my thesis just before the holiday! To my family and friends down south, especially Anita and Camilla who always cheer me on and listen when frustration takes over. Thank you! To my son Jonas for showing me what is important in life! Last but not least, to my parents who have supported me in more ways than one! This is dedicated to you for always believing in me. You are my rock! And to my brother Robert, you are always in my heart! Now it’s time to start a new chapter. I am ready!! Tromsø, December 2015 Nina Elisabeth Henriksen iv v Summary The soft-bottom macrofauna (>1 mm) was investigated at three different locations in Balsfjord; Andersdal, Svartnes and Tennes. The Svartnes data was then merged with Eivind Ougs long-term series from 1977-1994. The data showed that there were large variation between the three different stations in number of taxa and individuals found. A total of 59 taxa and 1514 (0.7 m2) individuals were found. The polychaeta Maldane sarsi and Galathowenia oculata were the dominate taxa at all three stations in number of individuals but the echinoderm Ctenodiscus cripatus dominated in biomass at Andersdal and Tennes. Andersdal was found to have the most number of taxa and individuals. Svartnes was the most divers with Shannon-Wiener index of 2.54 followed by Tennes with 1.99 and Andersdal with 1.69. The long-term study showed that species assemblage had changed little, but that the number of individuals had decreased from 1994 to 2013. Tubificoides cruspisetosus that was found in large numbers in 1994, was found in only one of the grab samples at Svartnes, represented by only one individual. Long-term monitoring in Balsfjord is now more important than ever since 3 small red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus was captured in October 2014 at Tennes, especially considering the potential effect this invasive species has on the ecosystem. vi vii Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Material and Methods .................................................................................................................. 5 Study area ................................................................................................................................ 5 Sampling................................................................................................................................... 6 Environment ............................................................................................................................. 7 Hydrography ............................................................................................................................. 8 Laboratory work.......................................................................................................................10 Data treatment ........................................................................................................................12 Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’) ......................................................................................12 Pielou’s evenness index (J’) ...................................................................................................12 Bray-Curtis index ..................................................................................................................13 Ranking correlation (Spearman).............................................................................................13 Multivariate analysis.................................................................................................................13 Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS)............................................................................................13 Principle component analysis (PCA) .......................................................................................13 Software used ..........................................................................................................................14 Results ........................................................................................................................................15 Spatial variation .......................................................................................................................15 Community analysis ..............................................................................................................18 Long-time variation Svartnes.....................................................................................................23 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................28 Sampling/ method ................................................................................................................28 Taxonomy/ identification ......................................................................................................29 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................35 References ..................................................................................................................................36 Appendix 1 ..................................................................................................................................41 Appendix 2 ..................................................................................................................................42 Appendix 3 ..................................................................................................................................43 viii ix Introduction In northern Norway there is a long standing tradition for the study of marine benthic fauna. In earlier times the focus of the research was to describe and systemise the fauna. In the 1900’s the Petersens grab was developed and quantitative sampling of the bottom fauna was possible (Nilsen, 2001; Gray and Elliot, 2009). Petersen and Jensen had in the early 1900’s observed that most benthic fish had benthic animals as their main food source. Since there were large variations in the fishery yield, Petersen and Jensen cohered the large variation in fishery yield with the abundance of benthic biomass, thus conducting the first production estimate on benthic organisms (Petersen, 1918; Nilsen, 2001). The first systematic description of the marine fauna around Tromsø was published in 1906 by Hans Kiær (Kiær, 1906). In recent years the focus has been concentrated on the environmental and ecological aspects of the marine environment and especially related to benthos. Studies on the effect of shrimp fisheries, which was banned in 1982, and the potential for commercial aquaculture in the fjord have been conducted. Many recipient studies have been made in the Tromsø area from the beginning of the 1970`s (Holte and Oug, 1996; Reigstad and Wassmann, 1996; Larsen, 1997; Oug, 1998; 2000; Holte, 2004; 2005; Nilsen et al., 2006). I would especially like to mention Eivind Oug’s long-term series conducted in Balsfjord at Svartnes from 1977-1994 (Oug, 2000), where bottom communities were investigated in the deep basin at Svartnes (185m). Ougs long-terms series from 1977-1994 (Oug, 2000) is the only long-term investigation in Balsfjord and one of the few in northern Norway, undertaken on the benthic communities. Balsfjord is one of the most well studied fjord systems in northern Norway, From the mid- 1970s Balsfjord has been the subject to many research investigations and in 1977 the Balsfjord Project was started, which has given us great knowledge of the ecology of this semi enclosed fjord ecosystem