- Published:
Macrobenthos of the subtidal Wadden Sea: revisited after 55 years
Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen volume 35, pages 409–423 (1982)
Abstract
During the years 1923–1926 Hagmeier & Kändler (1927) sampled the macrofauna of subtidal shallows and channels of the Wadden Sea close to the Island of Sylt (German Bight, North Sea). Reinvestigating this study area in 1980, a substantially altered faunal composition was recorded. An approach is made to quantify the comparison in terms of abundance, species richness and diversity of invertebrate taxa. Human interference is assumed to be responsible for the major changes. Natural oyster beds have been overexploited and the local population ofOstrea edulis has been driven to extinction. Subsequently, mussels(Mytilus edulis) spread in the entire region, promoted by shell fishery. Particularly barnacles and many polychaetes took advantage of the expansion of mussel banks which is substantiated by correlation analysis. Reefs of the colonial polychaeteSabellaria spinulosa stood in the way of shrimp trawling and became destroyed together with the associated fauna. A subtidalZostera marina bed was wiped out in 1934 by a natural epidemic disease but never succeeded in reestablishing itself. The associated fauna disappeared. Large epibenthic predators and scavengers (crabs, snails and starfish) survived all these changes. The total number of species remained approximately at the same level but molluscs experienced losses and polychaetes diversified. Overall abundance increased with a disproportionately large share of a few species(Mytilus edulis, Balanus crenatus, Cerastoderma edule, Scoloplos armiger). The subtidal fauna of the Wadden Sea proved to be vulnerable to human disturbance; thus, the present community can no longer be viewed as the outcome of entirely natural processes.
Literature cited
Buhr, K.-J., 1981. Auswirkungen des kalten Winters 1978/79 auf das Makrobenthos derLanice-Siedlung im Weser-Ästuar. — Veröff. Inst. Meeresforsch. Bremerhaven19, 115–131.
Cederwall, H. & Elmgren, R., 1980. Biomass increase of benthic macrofauna demonstrates eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. — Ophelia (Suppl.)1, 287–304.
Dörjes, J., 1980. Auswirkungen des kalten Winters 1978/1979 auf das marine Makrobenthos. — Natur Mus., Frankf.110, 109–115.
Gallardo, V. A., 1965. Observations on the biting profiles of three 0.1 m2 bottom-samplers. — Ophelia2, 319–322.
Hagmeier, A., 1925. Vorläufiger Bericht über die vorbereitenden Untersuchungen der Bodenfauna der Deutschen Bucht mit dem Petersen-Bodengreifer. — Ber. dt. wiss. Kommn Meeresforsch.1, 247–272.
Hagmeier, A., & Kändler, R., 1927. Neue Untersuchungen im nordfriesischen Wattenmeer und auf den fiskalischen Austernbänken. — Wiss. Meeresunters. (Helgoland)16, 1–90.
Hartog, C. den, 1970. The seagrasses of the world. — Verh. K. ned. Akad. Wet. (Afd. Natuurk., 2. R.)59, 1–275.
Hoek, C. van den, Admiraal, W., Colijn, F., & De Jonge, V. N., 1979. The role of algae and seagrasses in the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea: A review. — In: Flora and vegetation of the Wadden Sea. Ed. by W. J. Wolff. Balkema, Rotterdam, 9–118. (Rep. Wadden Sea Working Group 3.)
Korringa, P., 1980. Management of marine species. — Helgoländer Meeresunters.33, 641–661.
Linke, O., 1937. Der Verfall der Wangerooger Austernbänke. — Abh. naturw. Ver. Bremen30, 238–241.
Michaelis, H., 1978. Recent biological phenomena in the German Waddensea. — Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer172, 276–277.
Michaelis, H., 1981. Recent changes in the communities of the Wadden Sea — natural phenomena or effects of pollution? — Biol. Meddr5, 87–95.
Möbius, K., 1877. Die Auster und die Austernwirthschaft. Wiegandt, Hempel & Parey, Berlin, 126 pp.
Möbius, K., 1893. Über die Tiere der schleswig-holsteinischen Austernbänke, ihre physikalischen und biologischen Lebensverhältnisse. — Sber. preuss. Akad. Wiss.7, 33–58.
Persson, L.-E., 1981. Were macrobenthic changes induced by thinning out of flatfish stocks in the Baltic Proper? — Ophelia20, 137–152.
Reichert, A., & Dörjes, J., 1980. Die Bodenfauna des Crildumersieler Wattes (Jade, Nordsee) und ihre Veränderung nach dem Eiswinter 1978/79. — Senckenberg. marit.12, 213–245.
Reise, K., 1980. Hundert Jahre Biozönose. — Naturw. Rdsch., Stuttg.33, 328–335.
Reise, K., 1982. Long-term changes in the macrobenthic invertebrate fauna of the Wadden Sea: Are polychaetes about to take over? — Neth. J. Sea Res.16 (in press).
Smidt, E. L. B., 1944. The effects of ice winters on marine littoral faunas. — Folia geogr. dan.2 (3), 1–36.
Williams, W. T., Lambert, J. M., & Lance, G. N., 1966. Multivariate methods in plant ecology V. Similarity analysis and information analysis. — J. Ecol.54, 427–445.
Wohlenberg, E., 1935. Beobachtungen über das Seegras,Zostera marina L., und seine Erkrankung im nordfriesischen Wattenmeer. — Nordelbingen11, 1–19.
Wohlenberg, E., 1937. Die Wattenmeer-Lebensgemeinschaften im Königshafen von Sylt. — Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters.1, 1–92.
Ziegelmeier, E., 1964. Einwirkungen des kalten Winters 1962/63 auf das Makrobenthos im Ostteil der Deutschen Bucht. — Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters.10, 276–282.
Ziegelmeier, E., 1968. Makrobenthos. — In: Methoden der meeresbiologischen Forschung. Hrsg. von C. Schlieper. VEB Fischer, Jena, 97–108.
Ziegelmeier, E., 1970. Über Massenvorkommen vierschiedener makrobenthaler Wirbelloser während der Wiederbesiedlungsphase nach Schädigungen durch „katastrophale“ Umwelteinflüsse. — Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters.21, 9–20.
Ziegelmeier, E., 1978. Macrobenthos investigations in the eastern part of the German Bight from 1950 to 1974. — Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer172, 432–444.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Riesen, W., Reise, K. Macrobenthos of the subtidal Wadden Sea: revisited after 55 years. Helgolander Meeresunters 35, 409–423 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01999132
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01999132