Environmental distribution of bryozoans in the Permian of Spitsbergen

Bryozoans are abundant faunal constituents in the shallow water, sub-tropical through cooler, more open marine Permian succession of Spits-bergen. Trends in preferred habitat for delicate and robust vinculariiform and reteporiform bryozoans, as well as generic distribution through a series of well- known sedimentary facies types are recorded. The early Permian quiet shallow marine en-viron-ment contained thin branched vin-cularii-form trepostomes and cryptostomes, and varied delicate pinnate and fenestrate bryozoans, but only rare colonies in the palaeo-aplysinid bioherms. Overlying nearshore high energy bioclastic barrier deposits contained the richest faunas with thick ramose and encrusting trepostomes and cystoporates and robust fenestrates. More offshore platform spiculitic shales also contained robust trepostom-es and delicate fenestrates, whereas open platform carbonates contained varied delicate and robust trepo-stom-es and robust fenestrates. These environmental distri-butions are generally in accord with previously published patterns.