The EASIZ (Ecology of the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone) I-III cruises had been carried out between 1996 and 2000 and were mainly designed as an integrated programme to investigate water column and benthic processes of the high Antarctic continental shelf. During EASIZ II & III 23 epibenthic sledge samples were taken in the eastern Weddell Sea (off Kapp Norvegia, Vestkapp and Halley Bay) and in the Bransfield Strait (off King George and Deception Is.) in order to assess biodiversity and evolutionary linkages between the high Antarctic Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula and other areas (i.e. the Magellan region). These data should also provide a baseline for the evaluation of benthic latitudinal diversity gradients as well as genetic variability in selected taxa (copepods and peracarid crustaceans).