Fig. 3
Time series (1975–2014) of data collected annually in August along a transect on Balgzand that crossed a large and nearly permanent mussel bed. All data refer to the entire transect; abundance figures for the part of the transect within the bed were roughly an order of magnitude higher. a Numerical densities (nm−2) of young-of-the-year mussels; b biomass of all mussels present (in g AFDM m−2); c share (in %) to total mussel biomass of the five strongest cohorts: (solid squares) born in 1979, (open circles) born in 1987, (open squares) born in 1994, (solid circles) born in 1996, and (stars) born in 1997. Shares of one smaller cohort (crosses born in 1991) were also added, because this cohort dominated mussel biomass in 2 years (1991 and 1992) following the total removal of the bed in the second half of 1990 by fishery