Macrofauna community structure and population dynamics in the Flemish bank region: Assessing long-term change in the Anthropocene

Benthic communities in continental shelf seas are influenced by human activities, yet assessing long-term change remains impeded by the scarcity of baseline data predating the proliferation of human activities. In this study, we considered the oldest macrofauna data from Van Veen samples collected i...

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Published in:Continental shelf research 2025-02, Vol.285, p.105387, Article 105387
Main Authors: Broos, Sarah, Van Hoey, Gert, Van Colen, Carl
Format: Article
Language:English
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Climate variability
Seasonal dynamics
Sediment change
Soft-sediment macrofauna communities
Southern north sea
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description Benthic communities in continental shelf seas are influenced by human activities, yet assessing long-term change remains impeded by the scarcity of baseline data predating the proliferation of human activities. In this study, we considered the oldest macrofauna data from Van Veen samples collected in autumn 1970–1971 in a shallow soft-sediment seabed south of the Nieuwpoort Bank in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). Both archived data in notebooks and hitherto unprocessed samples were considered. The community structure and biodiversity of these samples were compared with samples from autumn 2016. Furthermore, we compared (bi)monthly dynamics of indicator taxa for muddy sands (Abra spp.) and fine-medium sands (Nephtys spp.) present in the area with a time series collected in 2002–2003. Our findings reveal that both habitat types became richer in macrofauna species number and diversity. The invasive species that colonized the area between sampling periods explained
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subjects Climate variability
Seasonal dynamics
Sediment change
Soft-sediment macrofauna communities
Southern north sea
title Macrofauna community structure and population dynamics in the Flemish bank region: Assessing long-term change in the Anthropocene
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