Benthic biodiversity in relation to environmental variables in the Canadian Arctic

Benthic fauna were sampled at 78 stations between June and October from 2007 to 2011 onboard the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. Station depths ranged from 34 to 1024 m, all below the average ice scouring zone. All faunal samples were collected with an Agassiz trawl (effective opening of 1.5 m and a 40 mm net mesh size, with a 5 mm cod end liner) with average trawling time and speed of 5 min and 1.5 knots, respectively.