Benthic community distribution pattern in Sandnesfjorden
Abstract
In the marine environment, benthic macrofauna plays a crucial role in carbon and nutrient cycling, decomposition, and as prey items for higher-level consumers. The distribution and composition of macrofauna were studied in seven stations along the southern Norwegian Sandnesfjord. The sampling strategy employed four replications per station, limiting them to three inner replicates (A2 & A3). Similar to other studied Norwegian fjords, the polychaete and bivalvia were more abundant than gastropoda,