Monitoring the invertebrate benthic fauna in the Dutch sector of the North Sea 1991 - 2005: an overview

In the framework of ‘BIOMON’, a national program for biological monitoring of marine waters, the invertebrate benthic fauna of the Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS) has been monitored from 1991 onwards. The monitoring is based on a boxcore sampling program yearly carried out in spring at 100 stations on the DCS. The aim is to generate a time series that can form a basis to detect possible trends in the development of thefauna in different areas within the DCS. From the very beginnng it became clear that in the fauna of the DCS four clusters could be discerned that are geographically well defined:... Mehr ...