Observations on Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Microalgae in the Dollard Estuary, The Netherlands: Importance of Late Winter Ice Cover of the Intertidal Flats

Staats, N.; Deckere, E.M.G.T. de; Kornman, B.A.; Lee, W. van der; Termaat, R. M.; Terwindt, Joost H. J.; Winder, Ben de

doi:10.1006/ecss.2001.0764

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Oost and de Boer (1994) pointed out that the mean water depth during high tide is smaller (because much of the water is above shallow flats) and thus the chance to reach the sediment is higher than during low tide (because water is confined to deep channels) thus enhancing the coastward transport of SPM with each tidal cycle. In addition, wave attenuation (Ehlers and Kunz, 1993) and biological interactions like filter feeding or microphytobenthic microfilms (Staats et al, 2001;Andersen et al, 2010) will increase the retention efficiency of the Wadden Sea. Thus, the Wadden Sea proper can be regarded as an effective "Keeper" of SPM, at least on a seasonal scale.…”

Section: Long-term Ecological Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Wadden Sea tidal basins and the mediating role of the North Sea in ecological processes: scaling up of management?

Beusekom

Buschbaum

Reise

2012

Ocean & Coastal Management

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a b s t r a c tThe scale of human pressures on marine ecosystems gradually increased from local to global effects during the last centuries. Global warming, sea level rise and trans-oceanic spread of alien species are now or will be major drivers of ecological change in the Wadden Sea. Eutrophication may rank as a superregional effect as the organic matter turnover in the Wadden Sea is driven by import from the North Sea. These effects will not necessarily be uniform across the entire Wadden Sea. A major challenge will be to understand the interactions between global factors with local conditions, both changed by human interference. A conceptual understanding of factors leading to regional differences within the Wadden Sea is only slowly evolving. Based on our understanding of the eutrophication process and a regional comparison of the eutrophication status of the Wadden Sea we propose that wider tidal basins (with a large distance between barrier islands and the mainland) generally have a lower eutrophication status than narrower tidal basins (with a short distance between barrier islands and mainland). This may be explained by a "dilution" of the imported organic matter in wider tidal basins. The interactions between global and super-regional effects on local ecological developments in the Wadden Sea will be complex and pose a major challenge to science, Wadden Sea management and the assessment of ecosystem health as required by EU legislation. The implications of integrating a North Sea view into Wadden Sea management are discussed and we conclude that the river basin approach of the EU Water Framework Directive is not appropriate for the Wadden Sea.

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Section: Long-term Ecological Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Wadden Sea tidal basins and the mediating role of the North Sea in ecological processes: scaling up of management?

Beusekom

Buschbaum

Reise

2012

Ocean & Coastal Management

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“…A back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that 2 cm m Ϫ2 of diatom-induced accumulation of silt on an intertidal mudflat is roughly equivalent to the silt content of about 40 m 2 of open water (assuming an average depth of 10 m in the estuary; Herman et al 2001). Similarly, benthic diatoms capture, although to a lesser extent, organic particulates from the water column, which can have a substantial effect on the particulate organic matter concentration within estuarine waters Staats et al 2001). In this way, self-organized spatial patterns not only locally affect the functioning of intertidal mudflats but also affect pelagic processes at the estuarine scale.…”

Section: Biogeomorphological Feedback and Ecosystem Functioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Self‐Organization on Intertidal Mudflats through Biophysical Stress Divergence

Weerman

Koppel²,

Eppinga³

et al. 2010

The American Naturalist

101

144

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In this study, we investigated the emergence of spatial self-organized patterns on intertidal flats, resulting from the interaction between biological and geomorphological processes. Autocorrelation analysis of aerial photographs revealed that diatoms occur in regularly spaced patterns consisting of elevated hummocks alternating with water-filled hollows. Hummocks were characterized by high diatom content and a high sediment erosion threshold, while both were low in hollows. These results highlight the interaction between diatom growth and sedimentary processes as a potential mechanism for spatial patterning. Several alternative mechanisms could be excluded as important mechanisms in the formation of spatial patterns. We developed a spatially explicit mathematical model that revealed that scale-dependent interactions between sedimentation, diatom growth, and water redistribution explain the observed patterns. The model predicts that areas exhibiting spatially selforganized patterns have increased sediment accretion and diatom biomass compared with areas lacking spatial patterns, a prediction confirmed by empirical evidence. Our study on intertidal mudflats provides a simple but clear-cut example of how the interaction between biological and sedimentary processes, through the process of self-organization, induces spatial patterns at a landscape level.

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“…To minimize biases of the initial assessment of the abundance and size class distribution, the series of photos should be taken as rapidly as possible. The effect of these potential biases are hard to assess, but comparisons to results obtained with in situ instruments such as LISST and other laser optical systems in the Wadden Sea yield size distributions and ECD that are rather similar to ours (van Leussen and Cornelisse 1993;Eisma et al 1996;Dyer et al 2000;Staats et al 2001;Joerdel et al 2003;Lunven et al 2003). From our experience in the Wadden Sea, aggregates with an ECD of ~100 µm are rather stable, and variations over time occur predominantly in the size classes <50 µm and >150 µm.…”

Section: Lunau Et Almentioning

confidence: 52%

A new sampling device for microaggregates in turbid aquatic systems

Lunau¹,

Sommer²,

Lemke³

et al. 2004

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Microaggregates (5 to 500 µm) are the main component of suspended particulate matter in shallow and turbid aquatic environments. Whereas their abundance and size structure have been studied by various optical systems, their composition, aggregation and disaggregation processes, and microbial colonization have been studied only little. This is largely due to inadequate sampling devices for microaggregates. Therefore, we established a new device, allowing the careful collection and documentation of aggregate size and abundance by laser illumination and a regular digital camera. The instrument simultaneously serves as a settling chamber to separate and subsample microaggregate fractions, differing in their settling velocities. Thus, it provides material for studying the biological and chemical composition and microbial colonization of microaggregates with a minimum of manipulation. First results from its application during a semitidal cycle in the German Wadden Sea demonstrate that it yields reliable results of the abundance and size structure of aggregates, reflecting the tidal changes in the hydrodynamic conditions. Total aggregate abundance covaried with dry weight of suspended particulate matter and turbidity. The biological and chemical analysis of aggregate fractions separated during 45 min of settling, showed that the various fractions exhibited distinct differences with respect to aggregate size, dry weight, particulate organic carbon, the carbon per nitrogen ratio (by weight), number of bacteria and bacterial production rates per aggregate. Hence, the application of this sampling device will lead to better insight into the dynamics and qualitative changes of microaggregates in turbid aquatic systems and deepen our understanding of their overall significance in these ecosystems.

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Observations on Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Microalgae in the Dollard Estuary, The Netherlands: Importance of Late Winter Ice Cover of the Intertidal Flats

Cited by 18 publications

References 32 publications

Wadden Sea tidal basins and the mediating role of the North Sea in ecological processes: scaling up of management?

Wadden Sea tidal basins and the mediating role of the North Sea in ecological processes: scaling up of management?

Spatial Self‐Organization on Intertidal Mudflats through Biophysical Stress Divergence

A new sampling device for microaggregates in turbid aquatic systems

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