Effects of sand extraction on the macrobenthos of the Belgian Continental Shelf: a comparison of long-term datasets: Thesis summary

Stations sampled on the Kwintebank in late seventies, mid nineties and 2001 were used to detect possible changes in macrobenthic communities related to the impact of sand extraction. The community analysis based on data covering the entire sandbank in the nineties, failed to detect a difference between stations subject to high sand extraction and stations subject to low sand extraction on the sandbank. Comparing the community analyses of the seventies and 2001 no real community shift could be detected, except the indications in the depression. But an overall decrease in density and diversity i... Mehr ...