The discussion about the correlation of diversity and ecosystem functioning in marine systems is long and ongoing, but empirical studies are scarce. Especially the Arctic is widely unexplored in that context, although the shift towards a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean raises many questions relating to the future of diversity and function of the Arctic ecosystems. We use biological trait analysis (BTA) to tackle these questions as it links species, environment and ecosystem processes (Bremner 2005). We examined how taxonomic diversity and the potential of function in macrozoobenthic communities are changing along a gradient of increasing water depth, latitude and sea ice cover. The dataset based on modeled production data comprises ten sample stations ranging from the productive shelf area down to the permanently ice covered and food limited Arctic Basin. Although the number of species per station decreased down to 4% towards the Arctic basin we did not find such a pronounced trend in functional richness which remained comparatively high. We conclude that benthic communities in the Basins are well adapted to food limitation by covering all potential niches and thus maintaining ecosystem functioning.