Diversity and biological trait analysis of soft-bottom macrobenthic communities in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities are an essential part of the marine ecosystem for which a healthy status is aimed at. Therefore, insights in the structural and functional (trait based) characteristics of the soft-bottom benthic communities in the Southern part of the North Sea are obtained based on 18 years of data, with a large spatial coverage. The communities show clear differences in their structural properties. The fine sand Abra alba community and coarse sand Hesionura elongata community have the highest species richness and diversity values. The muddy Limecola balthica community an... Mehr ...