Documentation of sites of intertidal blue mussel (Mytilus edulis L.) beds of the Lower Saxonian Wadden Sea, southern North Sea (as of 2003) and the role of their structure for spatfall settlement

Abstract

Field surveys (dating back to 1950) and aerial photograph series (dating back to 1966) were evaluated to determine sites of intertidal blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds at the Wadden Sea coast of Lower Saxony. Maps were prepared indicating sites of blue mussel beds during the last decades. A table gives additional information on the presence (or absence) of blue mussel beds at each site at the time of large-scale surveys. Altogether 187 sites of M. edulis beds were recorded in the investigation area. In spring 1996, there were still only 19 sites where mussel beds still occurred, although at 51 sites residual mussel-bed structures were present, e.g. shell bases of former beds or protruding patches (which had been occupied by M. edulis before the beds vanished) and open spaces. At that time, the majority of the sites contained neither mussel beds nor mussel-bed structures. The analysis of recent data conWrmed that mussel larvae have preferred to settle in sites of present mussel beds and sites with bases of former mussel beds. There was no preferential selection of one of these categories (settled beds vs. shell bases). On the other hand, the presence of mussel beds or mussel bed structures is not obligatory for settlement, because sites without those structures were also re-settled by the spatfall in 1996, even though on a smaller scale.

Recruitment facilitation and spatial pattern formation in soft‐bottom mussel beds

“…Mussel abundance is negatively correlated with silt-clay content (Commito et al 2008), and young mussels in particular are negatively correlated with substrate softness (McGrorty et al 1993, Stillman et al 2000. Mussel larvae, juveniles, and adults overwhelmingly attach to patches of hard substrate on the sediment surface, including other live mussels, shell hash (empty shells and shell fragments), and terrestrially derived pebbles and cobbles (McGrorty et al 1993, Stillman et al 2000, Dolmer and Frandsen 2002, Herlyn et al 2008, wa Kangeri et al 2014). If dislodged, mussels may be moved passively by water currents or actively crawl towards each other to re-establish at other mussel patches or create new patches (Maas Geesteranus 1942, Reusch and Chapman 1997, Côté and Jelnikar 1999, de Vooys 2003, Nicastro et al 2007, van de Koppel et al 2008, de Jager et al 2011, Capelle et al 2014.…”

Paleoecological Dynamics of Shallow-Water Bivalve Carpets From a Lower Jurassic Lagoonal Setting, Northeast Italy

“…Transported bivalve accumulations have been described from the fossil record (e.g., Jiménez and Braga, 1993;Mandic and Piller, 2001;Yesares-García and Aguirre, 2004;Mandic et al, 2004;Fürsich et al, 2009). Present-day bivalve accumulations are present in subtidal (e.g., Sørensen and Surlyk, 2013;Zonneveld and Gingras, 2013), intertidal (e.g., Herlyn et al, 2008;Schneider-Storz et al, 2008) and supratidal settings (e.g., Flessa and Kowalewski, 1994). Shell-beds are the products of a complex interplay of biological, taphonomic and sedimentological processes (e.g., Fürsich and Kirkland, 1986;Kidwell et al, 1986;Kidwell, 1991;Fürsich and Oschmann, 1993;Flessa and Kowalewski, 1994;Brett, 1995;Fürsich and Pandey, 1999;Schneider-Storz et al, 2008).…”