Collected reprints: Abstract 3393
Collected reprints
Abstract
Willems, K.A.; Vanosmael, C.; Claeys, D.; Vincx, M.; Heip, C. (1982). Benthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea : general considerations. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. 62: 549-557
The benthic fauna of the Kwinte Bank, a linear sandbank in the Belgian coastal waters of the North Sea, was sampled on ten stations in September 1978.
This sandbank shows a linear gradient from fine sandy sediments in the south to coarser sandy sediments in the north as a result of the tidal current pattern in the region. The influence of this gradient on macro- and meiofauna was studied.
Diversity of polychaetes and harpacticoid copepods is correlated with median grain size of the sand fraction, diversity of nematodes is not. The influence of station location and sediment characteristics on density of all major macrobenthic groups is very outspoken, and linear density trends are common. This is not true for meiofauna in general and nematodes and copepods in particular, which show no correlation between density and sediment. However, ostracods and halacarids are more numerous in coarser sediments.
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