Zonation in Antarctic lake-dwelling benthic meiofauna, with emphasis on the Tardigrada

Meiofaunal diversity in a lake on Antarctic Signy Island is limited, but lo w predation pressure and an abundant food source have allowed large populat ions of benthos and nektobenthos to establish. Some meiobenthonts have dist inct depth-related associations, with 'preferences' for either the shallows or the deeper sites. A few animals produced anoxia-tolerant/resistant stag es that over-wintered in anoxic deep water but were probably re-circulated to the lake shallows in summer by wind-induced mixing.