Abstract
During 17 successive years (1969–1985) the macrozoobenthos has been sampled quantitatively in the latewinter/early-spring period at 15 stations scattered over Balgzand (a 50 km2 tidal flat area in the western-most part of the Wadden Sea) and at 5 stations located in a small (3 km2) area 150 km away from Balgzand in the eastern part of the Dutch Wadden Sea. In 25 species, numbers per m2 were, in most years, sufficiently high at 2 or more of the Balgzand stations to allow between-station comparisons of fluctuation patterns. Comparisons were made by rank correlation. Out of a total of 1003 of such comparisons that could be made with the Balgzand data, 47% yielded significantly positive correlations and less than 1% significantly negative ones. Thus, nearly half of the fluctuation patterns of the populations living at the 15 stations within the Balgzand area showed a high similarity. Synchronization of population fluctuations was augmented particularly by the incidence of severe winters (causing low spring numbers in about a quarter of the species that were sensitive to low temperatures and high reproductive success in several species during the subsequent summer) and further by the increasing trends in numbers in about half of the species, probably as a consequence of eutrophication.
Similar results as on Balgzand were obtained within the restricted area Groninger Wad in the eastern part of the Dutch Wadden Sea (Essink & Beukema, this issue). Comparison of the fluctuation patterns between the 2 distant areas also yielded high numbers of significantly positive correlations, though the proportion of the patterns that were similar was lower than these proportions were within the 2 areas.
It is concluded that common patterns of fluctuation in numerical densities of macrobenthic species can be assessed over vast areas. Such common patterns will represent the ‘normal’ or ‘base-line’ fluctuations that may be used to distinguish (as departures from such patterns) the effects of local disturbing influences.
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Beukema, J.J., Essink, K. Common patterns in the fluctuations of macrozoobenthic species living at different places on tidal flats in the Wadden Sea. Hydrobiologia 142, 199–207 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026759
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026759