Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T06:37:48.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of long-term trends in benthic and pelagic communities of the North Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M. C. Austen ,
J. B. Buchanan ,
H. G. Hunt ,
A. B. Josefson  and
M. A. Kendall
M. C. Austen
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL 3DH
J. B. Buchanan
Affiliation:
Dove Marine Laboratory, Cullercoats, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE30 4PZ
H. G. Hunt
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL 3DH
A. B. Josefson
Affiliation:
National Environmental Research Institute, Jaegersborg Alle 1 B, DK–2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark
M. A. Kendall
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL 3DH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Species abundance data for benthic communities, collected during 1971–1988 off Northumberland on the north-east coast of England (western North Sea) and the Skagerrak (eastern North Sea), and pelagic data collected in corresponding areas during 1958–1988 by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey have been subjected tomulti-dimensional scaling ordination. Changes in community structure at the two benthic stations show a high degree of similarity, characterised by a transition in the late 70s. Similarly, there is a less marked transition between the 70s and 80s in pelagic community structure from the eastern North Sea but pelagic data from the western North Sea shows no discernible patterns. Benthic community biomass data, available only for the Skagerrak station, enabled abundance/biomass comparison curves to be constructed which demonstrated a change from un-disturbed communities in the early and mid 70s to moderately disturbed communities in the late 70s and 80s. North Sea macrofaunal abundance, and, in the Skagerrak, macrofaunal biomass appear to co-vary with phytoplankton colour and total zooplankton abundance, although there are insufficient data for statistical testing. A number of factors including eutrophication and/or pollution may be responsible for these changes in community structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 179 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersson, L. & Rydberg, L., 1988. Trends in nutrients and oxygen conditions within the Kattegat: effects of local nutrient supply. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, 26, 559–579.Google Scholar
Brockmann, U., Billen, G. & Gieskes, W.W.C., 1988. North Sea nutrients and eutrophication. In Pollution of theNorth Sea: an Assessment (ed. Salomons, W. et al.) pp. 348–389. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J.B., Kingston, P.F. & Sheader, M., 1974. Long-term population trends of the benthic macrofauna in the offshore mud of the Northumberland coast. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 54, 784–795.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J.B. & Moore, J.J. 1986a. Long-term studies at a benthic station off the coast of Northumberland. Hydrobiologia, 142, 21–127.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J.B. & Moore, J.J., 1986b. A broad review of variability and persistence in the Northumberland benthic fauna–1971–85. journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 641–657.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J.B., Brachi, R., Christie, G. & Moore, J.J., 1986. An analysis of a stable period in the Northumberland benthic fauna 1973–80. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 659–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cederwall, H. & Elmgren, R. 1980. Biomass increase of benthic macrofauna demonstrates eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Ophelia (supplement), 1, 287–304.Google Scholar
Clarke, K.R. 1990. Comparisons of dominance curves. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 138, 143–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. & Green, R.H., 1988. Statistical design and analysis for a 'biological effects' study. Marine Ecological Progress Series, 46, 213–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colebrook, J.M., 1978. Continuous plankton records: zooplankton and environment, north-east Atlantic and North Sea, 1948–1975. Oceanologica Ada, 1, 9–23.Google Scholar
Elmgren, R., 1978. Structure and dynamics of Baltic benthos communities, with particular reference to the relationship between macro- and meiofauna. Kieler Meeresforschungen, 4, 1–22.Google Scholar
Elmgren, R., 1989. Man's impact on the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea: energy flows today and at the turn of thecentury. Ambio, 18, 326–332.Google Scholar
Emerson, C.W., Roff, J.C. & Wildish, D.J., 1986. Pelagic-benthic energy coupling at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. Ophelia, 26, 165–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleeger, J.W., Shirley, T.C. & Ziemann, D.A., 1989. Meiofaunal responses to sedimentation from an Alaskan spring bloom. I. Major taxa. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 57, 137–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graf, G., Schulz, R., Peinert, R. & Meyer-ReilL.-A., L.-A., 1983. Benthic response to sedimentation events during autumn to spring at a shallow-water station in the western Kiel Bight. I. Analysis of processes on a community level. Marine Biology, 77, 235–246.Google Scholar
Grassle, J.F., Grassle, J.P., Brown-Leger, L.S.Petrecca, R.F. & Copley, N.J., 1985. Subtidal macrobenthos of Narragansett Bay. Field and mesocosm studies of the effects of eutrophication and organic input on benthic populations. In Marine Biology of Polar Regions and Effects of Stress on Marine Organisms (ed. Gray, J.S. and Christiansen, M.E.) pp. 421–434. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Gray, J.S., Aschan, M., Carr, M.R., Clarke, K.R., Green, R.H., Pearson, T.H., Rosenberg, R. & Warwick, R.M., 1988. Analysis of community attributes of the benthic macrofauna of Frierfjord/ Langesundfjord and in a mesocosm experiment. Marine Ecological Progress Series, 46, 151–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, A.C., 1939. Ecological investigation with the Continuous Plankton Recorder: object, planand methods. Hull Bulletins of Marine Ecology, 1, 1–57.Google Scholar
Josefson, A.B., 1981. Persistence and structure of two deep macrobenthic communities in the Skagerrak (west coast of Sweden). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 50, 63–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josefson, A.B., 1985. Distribution of diversity and functional groups of marine benthic fauna in the Skagerrak (eastern North Sea) - can larval availability affect diversity? Sarsia, 70, 229–249.Google Scholar
Lee, A.J. & Ramster, J.W. 1981. Atlas of the Seas Around the British Isles. Lowestoft: MAFF. Levinton, 1972. Stability and trophic structure in deposit-feeding and suspension-feeding communities. American Naturalist, 106, 472–486.Google Scholar
Pearson, T.H. & Rosenberg, R., 1978. Macrobenthic succession in relation to organic enrichment and pollution of the marine environment. Oceanography and Marine Biology, an Annual Review, 16, 229–311.Google Scholar
Roff, J.C., Middlebrook, K. & Evans, F. 1988. Long-term variability in North Sea zooplankton off the Northumberland coast: productivity of small copepods and analysis of trophic interactions. journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 68, 143–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, R., 1985. Eutrophication - the future marine coastal nuisance? Marine Pollution Bulletin, 16, 227–231.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, R., Gray, J.S., Josefson, A.B. & Pearson, T.H., 1987. Petersen's benthic stations revisited. II. Is the Oslofjord and eastern Skagerrak enriched? journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 105, 219–251.Google Scholar
Rudnick, D.T., 1989. Time lags between the deposition and meiobenthic assimilation of phy todetrirus. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 50, 231–240.Google Scholar
Rudnick, D.T., Elmgren, R. & Frithsen, J.B., 1985. Meiofaunal prominence and benthic seasonality in a coastal marine ecosystem. Oecologia, 67, 157–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valderhaug, V.A. & Gray, J.S., 1984. Stable macrofauna community structure despite fluctuating food supply in subtidal soft sediments of Oslofjord, Norway. Marine Biology, 82, 307–322.Google Scholar
Warwick, R.M., 1986. A new method for detecting pollution effects on marine macrobenthic communities. Marine Biology, 92, 557–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WarwickR.M., R.M.,Pearson, T.H. & Ruswahyuni, T.H. 1987. Detection of pollution effects on marine macrobenthos: further evaluation of the species abundance/biomass method. Marine Biology, 95, 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar