MEROPLANKTON ABUNDANCE IN THE NORTHEAST WATER POLYNYA - INSIGHTS FROMOCEANOGRAPHIC PARAMETERS AND BENTHIC ABUNDANCE PATTERNS

We investigated meroplankton (planktonic larvae of benthic organisms) abundance and distribution in the Northeast Water (NEW) Polynya, locat ed on the northeast coast of Greenland, from July 15 to August 15, 199 2. Meroplankton was present at all sites visited (0.03-84.83 individua ls per m(3)); at one station meroplankton comprised 8.27% of total zoo plankton, Total meroplankton abundance was correlated with total zoopl ankton abundance and total benthic infaunal abundance but was not corr elated with either microscopic carbon concentration or primary product ivity, Examination of distribution data for barnacle nauplii and adult s indicated that both adults and larvae were concentrated at the same locations. Patterns of distribution were also examined for stelleroid plutei, polychaete larvae and trochophores. There were distinct geogra phic patterns in total and class-specific meroplankton distributions, with maximal abundances occurring over the Belgica Bank and in the eas tern regions of the Westwind Trough and minimal abundances in the Belg ica Trough. The apparent control of meroplankton distribution by the h ydrography of the region, coupled with the correlation between meropla nkton, zooplankton and adult infaunal abundance, reinforces the hypoth esis that hydrography plays a major role in controlling the distributi on of biota in the NEW polynya (Ambrose and Renaud, 1995; Ashjian et a l., 1995, 1997-this volume; Smith et al., 1995; Piepenburg et al., 199 7-this volume).