A comparative analysis of macrobenthic communities of sublittoral and littoral zones of the Belgian Continental Shelf and coast (Oostende and De Panne)

Macrobenthos is defined as all organisms living in the bottom of the sea retained on a sieve with a mesh size of 1mm. The Belgian continental shelf has four typical macrobenthic communities: the Abra alba - Mysella bidentata community, the Nephtys cirrosa community, the Ophelia limacina - Glycera lapidum community and the Barnea candida community (Degraer et al., 1999). In the littoral zone the communities are mainly determined by morphodynamic differences attributed to waves and tides, while in the sublittoral mainly to sediment characteristics. The aim of this study was to compare littoral m... Mehr ...