Benthos and demersal fish habitats in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea

Neumann, Hermann; Reiss, Henning; Ehrich, Siegfried; Sell, Anne F.; Panten, Kay; Kloppmann, Matthias; Wilhelms, Ingo; Kröncke, Ingrid

doi:10.1007/s10152-012-0334-z

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Most of the community‐weighted mean trait values changed with depth and physical oceanographic variables, indicating that environmental filtering was occurring. This result is common in studies at large spatial scales, where faunal zonation is aligned to the different hydrographic regimes (Neumann et al, ). Depth and maximum bottom current speed were the best environmental predictors, contributing 38.9% and 14.7% of the total explained variation, whereas interspecific interactions as inferred from the random effect at the sample level, and which can also account for missing environmental covariates (Zurrell, Pollock, & Thuiller, ), accounted for 16.3% of the variance in the model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Marine epibenthic functional diversity on Flemish Cap (north‐west Atlantic)—Identifying trait responses to the environment and mapping ecosystem functions

Murillo

Weigel

Marmen

et al. 2020

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim To characterize the functional diversity and selected ecological functions of marine epibenthic invertebrate communities at the ecosystem scale and to evaluate the relative contributions of environmental filtering, including bottom‐contact fishing, and competitive interactions to benthic community assembly. Location Flemish Cap, an ecosystem production unit and fishing bank in the high seas of the north‐west Atlantic Ocean. Methods Through the use of Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC), we have explored seven community response traits to the environment applied to 105 epibenthic species and evaluated the influence of such traits on the community assembly processes. Assumed bioturbation, nutrient cycling and habitat provision functions, linked to individual or a combination of biological traits, were mapped using random forest modelling. Results Functional richness within benthic communities reached an asymptote for trawl sets with roughly more than 30 species. Assemblages on top of the Flemish Cap (<500 m depth) were characterized by higher biomass of small‐ and medium‐sized species with short life spans, whereas large species with longer life spans and broadcast spawners were dominant in the deeper assemblages (500–1,500 m depth). The amount of variation explained by the species’ responses to the covariates mediated by the traits was relatively high (25%) indicating their relevance to community assembly. Community‐weighted mean trait values changed with depth and physical oceanographic variables, indicating that environmental filtering was occurring. Interspecific interactions, as inferred from the random effect at the sample level, accounted for 16.3% of the variance in the model, while fishing effort explained only 5.2% of the variance but conferred strong negative impacts for most species. Main conclusions Our results suggest that while bottom‐contact fishing impacts have an effect on functional diversity, changes to the physical oceanography of the system are likely to have more profound impacts. The maps of benthic functioning can aid assessments of ecosystem impacts of fishing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Marine epibenthic functional diversity on Flemish Cap (north‐west Atlantic)—Identifying trait responses to the environment and mapping ecosystem functions

Murillo

Weigel

Marmen

et al. 2020

Diversity and Distributions

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“…The three sediment sites of highest estimated species richness CCP‐J, NOAH‐H (both impermeable sediments) and NOAH‐I (medium permeable) only had in common the furthest location from shore. Interestingly species richness of benthic infauna in these regions has also been described to be three times higher compared to sites in the coastal regions (Neumann et al ., ). Less frequent pulses of organic matter, for example through phytoplankton blooms, into the sediment in regions furthest offshore could explain the high estimated species richness in these regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Permeability shapes bacterial communities in sublittoral surface sediments

Probandt

Knittel

Tegetmeyer

et al. 2017

Environmental Microbiology

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The first interaction of water column-derived organic matter with benthic microbial communities takes place in surface sediments which are acting as biological filters catalyzing central steps of elemental cycling. Here we analyzed the bacterial diversity and community structure of sediment top layers at seven sites in the North Sea where sediment properties ranged from coarse-grained and highly permeable to fine-grained and impermeable. Bacterial communities in surface sediments were richer, more even and significantly different from communities in bottom waters as revealed by Illumina tag sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Sediment permeability had a clear influence on community composition which was confirmed by CARD-FISH. Sulfate-reducing Desulfobacteraceae (2-5% of total cells), Flavobacteriaceae (3-5%) were more abundant in impermeable than in highly permeable sediments where acidobacterial Sva0725 dominated (11-15%). Myxobacterial Sandaracinaceae were most abundant in medium permeable sediments (3-7%). Woeseiaceae/JTB255 and Planctomycetes were major groups in all sediments (4-6%, 8-22%). Planctomycetes were highly diverse and branched throughout the phylum. We propose Planctomycetes as key bacteria for degradation of high molecular weight compounds and recalcitrant material entering surface sediments from the water column. Benthic Flavobacteriaceae likely have restricted capabilities for macromolecule degradation and might profit with Sandaracinaceae and Acidobacteria from low molecular weight compounds.

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“…() and Neumann et al . () analysing data from the same area found no relationship between diversity of demersal fish and epibenthos or macrofauna, even though patterns of community assemblages of the three components were largely similar. Reiss et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…() and Neumann et al . () concluded that different processes may drive diversity versus community structure; indeed, at large spatial scales factors delineating regional species pools are likely to be important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating demersal fish richness as a surrogate for epibenthic richness in management and conservation

Hewitt

Wang

Francis

et al. 2015

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim Underpinning conservation and management strategies at large spatial scales is the concept that spatial patterns of biodiversity are known, although this information is frequently lacking. Many countries routinely collect data on fish occurrence as part of stock assessments, and it has been suggested that this data could be a surrogate for other components. Here we test the usefulness of three indices of demersal fish species diversity as a surrogate for epibenthic richness at scales from 0.002 to 3,800,000 km À2 .Location Four areas covering a spatial extent of 11°of latitude and 18°of longitude within the New Zealand Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone.Methods Predictive modelling of epibenthic taxon richness, from video and sled-based dredge, by boosted regression trees using environmental variables and demersal fish taxon richness.Results Overall, the ability of environmental factors to predict epibenthic richness was not significantly improved by incorporating any of the demersal fish richness estimates, either within or across locations. However, incorporating data on fish richness collected at the same time and spatial scale (c. 2 km) as the video data demonstrated a small increase (c. 10%) in predictability. The ability of environmental variables to predict epibenthic richness varied within and across locations, from 32% to 72% variability explained, despite the presence of strong environmental gradients.Main conclusion Demersal fish taxon richness, especially derived from stock assessments, was not a useful surrogate for epibenthic invertebrate taxon richness. Environmental data were more useful in predicting epibenthic richness, especially for habitat-structuring taxa observed on video. Our findings suggest that the need to manage large areas of the seafloor seems most likely to be met in future by species distribution and habitat suitability mapping. However, understanding small-scale spatial heterogeneity may be important for conservation and management strategies operating at a range of scales.

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Benthos and demersal fish habitats in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Marine epibenthic functional diversity on Flemish Cap (north‐west Atlantic)—Identifying trait responses to the environment and mapping ecosystem functions

Marine epibenthic functional diversity on Flemish Cap (north‐west Atlantic)—Identifying trait responses to the environment and mapping ecosystem functions

Permeability shapes bacterial communities in sublittoral surface sediments

Evaluating demersal fish richness as a surrogate for epibenthic richness in management and conservation

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