Structural and functional diversity of soft-bottom macrobenthic communities in the Southern North Sea

Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities are an essential part of the marine ecosystem for which a healthy status is aimed at. Therefore, insights in the structural and functional (trait based) characteristics of the soft-bottom benthic communities in the Southern part of the North Sea are obtained based on 18 years of data, with a large spatial coverage. The communities show clear differences in their structural properties. The fine sand Abra alba community and coarse sand Hesionura elongata community have the highest species richness and diversity values. The muddy Limecola balthica community and medium sand Nephtys cirrosa community the lowest. However, looking at biological trait characteristics, the communities show some functional redundancy. In the relative coarser, permeable sands, more free living, mobile species, were found causing diffusive mixing, whilst the finer sand and mud communities have more sessile, tube building and burrow dwelling species. With their contribution to bioturbation and bio-irrigation processes, the benthic fauna prove to be essential for the biogeochemical status of these finer sand sediments. Based on this integrated evaluation of biodiversity and functional related characteristics, we will demonstrate how this improve status assessments and an appropriate determination of the habitat sensitivity to different human induced pressures.

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Macrobenthic resources of the shallow soft-bottom sediments in the eastern English Channel and southern North Sea

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1006/jmsc.2002.1333 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 120-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

N Desroy

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Bottom Sediments ◽

English Channel ◽

Soft Bottom ◽

Southern North Sea

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Diversity and biological trait analysis of soft-bottom macrobenthic communities in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26685v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Naomi Breine ◽

Annelies De Backer ◽

Kris Hostens ◽

Carl Van Colen ◽

Tom Moens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Marine Ecosystem ◽

Benthic Fauna ◽

Soft Bottom ◽

Macrobenthic Communities ◽

Mobile Species ◽

The North ◽

Biological Trait ◽

Spatial Coverage ◽

The North Sea

Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities are an essential part of the marine ecosystem for which a healthy status is aimed at. Therefore, insights in the structural and functional (trait based) characteristics of the soft-bottom benthic communities in the Southern part of the North Sea are obtained based on 18 years of data, with a large spatial coverage. The communities show clear differences in their structural properties. The fine sand Abra alba community and coarse sand Hesionura elongata community have the highest species richness and diversity values. The muddy Limecola balthica community and medium sand Nephtys cirrosa community the lowest. However, looking at biological trait characteristics, the communities show some functional redundancy. In the relative coarser, permeable sands, more free living, mobile species, were found causing diffusive mixing, whilst the finer sand and mud communities have more sessile, tube building and burrow dwelling species. With their contribution to bioturbation and bio-irrigation processes, the benthic fauna prove to be essential for the biogeochemical status of these finer sand sediments. Based on this integrated evaluation of biodiversity and functional related characteristics, we will demonstrate how this improve status assessments and an appropriate determination of the habitat sensitivity to different human induced pressures.

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The contribution of the mud shrimp Callianassa subterranea (Decapoda: Thallassinidea) to sediment metabolism during oxygen deficiency in southern North Sea sediments

Netherlands Journal of Sea Research ◽

10.1016/s0077-7579(96)90049-6 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 36 (3-4) ◽

pp. 193-202

Author(s):

M Powilleit

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Oxygen Deficiency ◽

Southern North Sea ◽

Mud Shrimp ◽

Callianassa Subterranea

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Detrital zircon geochronology and heavy mineral analysis as complementary provenance tools in the presence of extensive weathering, reworking and recycling: the Neogene of the southern North Sea Basin

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756821000133 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Jasper Verhaegen ◽

Hilmar von Eynatten ◽

István Dunkl ◽

Gert Jan Weltje

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Chemical Weathering ◽

Heavy Mineral ◽

Mineral Analysis ◽

Provenance Analysis ◽

Detrital Zircon Geochronology ◽

Southern North Sea ◽

Variable Heavy ◽

Mineral Data ◽

Heavy Mineral Analysis

Abstract Heavy mineral analysis is a long-standing and valuable tool for sedimentary provenance analysis. Many studies have indicated that heavy mineral data can also be significantly affected by hydraulic sorting, weathering and reworking or recycling, leading to incomplete or erroneous provenance interpretations if they are used in isolation. By combining zircon U–Pb geochronology with heavy mineral data for the southern North Sea Basin, this study shows that the classic model of sediment mixing between a northern and a southern source throughout the Neogene is more complex. In contrast to the strongly variable heavy mineral composition, the zircon U–Pb age spectra are mostly constant for the studied samples. This provides a strong indication that most zircons had an initial similar northern source, yet the sediment has undergone intense chemical weathering on top of the Brabant Massif and Ardennes in the south. This weathered sediment was later recycled into the southern North Sea Basin through local rivers and the Meuse, leading to a weathered southern heavy mineral signature and a fresh northern heavy mineral signature, yet exhibiting a constant zircon U–Pb age signature. Thus, this study highlights the necessity of combining multiple provenance proxies to correctly account for weathering, reworking and recycling.

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