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The following results include data acquired through analysis of benthic grab samples collected during the EAOW cable route survey and the EAOW benthic characterisation survey (50 sampled stations).
A total of 270 taxa were present across the EAOW cable route benthic study site. A full species list together with abundance counts for each station is presented in Appendix Table 6. A breakdown of the biomass (gAFDW) of each major group per station is presented in Appendix Table 7.
The mean number of individual organisms per sample was 93 (+/-36.50 at 95% confidence limited) and the mean number of taxa within a sample was 20 (+/-3.71 at 95% confidence limited). The mean biomass per sample is 0.38g (gAFDW) (+/-0.24 at 95% confidence limited).
The area of interest is broadly characterised by
relatively high numbers of individuals
drawn from comparatively few taxa. The relative contribution of each major faunal group (Annelida, Crustacea, Echinodermata, Mollusca and Miscellanea) to the abundance (N), taxonomic richness (S) and biomass (B) across the survey area is presented in Figure 7.
Annelida accounted for 47% of the overall abundance at the surveyed sites, followed by Mollusca (26%), Crustacea (11%), and Miscellanea (11%). The smallest contribution to relative
abundance was made by Echinodermata (5%).
Figure 7 outlines the relative contribution made by each major faunal group to the total taxonomic richness of the area. Annelida made the greatest contribution to the taxonomic richness (49%) relative to the other major groups. This was followed by Miscellanea which contributed 26% of the taxonomic richness across the study site. Mollusca contributed 10% and Crustacea contributed to 9% of the relative taxonomic richness. Echinodermata contributed to just 6% of the total taxonomic richness of the area.
The relative biomass of each major group is also presented in Figure 7. The major group that contributed most to the relative biomass was Mollusca (45%), this was followed by the groups Annelida and Echinodermata both with 22% of the relative contribution to biomass. The smallest contributions made to the total sampled biomass were made by Miscellanea (8%) and Crustacea (2%).