380.0 230.1 Syllidae sp.1 48.88 18.57 Isopoda spp. 17.25 5.31 Ophiopholis aculeata 15.13 3.83 Hiatella arctica 13.25 6.96 Caprellida spp. 11.63 4.13 ATM Kinase Inhibitor research buy Nematoda sp. 11.50 6.07 Musculus spp. (juv.) 7.38 2.76 Thelepus cincinnatus 5.75 1.77 Boltenia echinata 5.13 1.90 Syllidae sp.2 4.25 1.92 Terebellomorpha indet. 4.00 1.13 Polynoidae indet 3.25 1.46 Actinaria spp. 3.13 0.93 Eulalia viridis 3.13 1.23 Polydontidae indet. 3.13 1.76 (b) Biomass (grams wet weight) Species Mean SE Ophiopholis aculeata 7.46 1.67 Myxilla sp.1 1.77 1.69 Thelepus cincinnatus 1.45 0.45 Halichondria

sp. 1.17 0.75 Gammaridea spp. 1.01 0.55 Hyas araneus 0.98 0.62 Lophaster furcifer 0.72 0.48 Hiatella arctica 0.71 0.39 Species regarded as

common are those (of the 61 solitary species) occurring with means > 3 individuals per aggregate and/or those (of the totally 99 sp.) with biomass means > 0.5 g biomass per aggregate The number of individuals (solitary), the biomass, the solitary and total species richness all increased with aggregation volume (Fig. 3). However, the relation of biomass was less linear due to a dominance of the sponge (Myxilla sp. 1) in the second largest aggregation and a comparably low biomass in the largest aggregation where animals were of a small size. Interestingly, both the solitary and total species numbers increased geometrically in relation to aggregation volume. Fig. 3 Relationships between variables of associated faunas and the volume (l) of Filograna implexa Berkeley, 1828, aggregates EPZ-6438 datasheet (n = 8) from the wreck “M/S Flint” in the tidal stream “Rystraumen” in the northern Norway. Regression equations and coefficients of determination (R 2) are given for the linear trend lines of individual numbers of solitary species (a) and biomass of all species (b), and for the geometric Cobimetinib nmr trend lines of solitary species richness (c) and total species richness (d) Discussion This study identifies and characterises a very high local species richness and biodiversity

at high latitude (69°N). More than 100 species comprising only 160 g of biomass were found within only a 4.4 l volume of Serpulid polychate aggregations. In general, average species richness decrease with latitude from the tropics across a range of spatial scales (Stevens 1989; Gaston 1996, 2000). Witman et al. (2004) demonstrated that also local species richness in the marine epibenthos follows this pattern and provided for various latitudes measures of small-scale species richness (0.25 m2). By comparison, the dense and diverse fauna found within Filograna aggregations covering less than 0.05 m2 represents a local high-latitude biodiversity hotspot that provides an exception to the latitudinal diversity gradient.