Meiobenthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea.

The meiofauna of a subtidal linear sandbank, the Kwinte Bank, in the Belgian coastal waters of the North Sea was analysed, with particular reference to the nematodes and harpacticoids. Nematodes are evenly spread over the whole sandbank but species differ. Diversity is very high (on average 3.8 bit /ind.) and 136 species were identified. Density on the contrary is low (on average 384 ind./10 cm²). Three species groups can be distinguished which are correlated with sediment characteristics. All trophic groups of nematodes are equally distributed within the sediment. Copepods are both more numerous and more diverse in the coarser sediments of the northern side of the sandbank. One cyclopoid and 65 harpacticoid species were identified with an average diversity of 2.3 bits/ind. and an average density of 162 ind./10cm². Two species groups can be distinguished, again correlated with sediment characteristics. It is suggested that stable fine and coarse sand associations occur in the North Sea, similar to other coastal and offshore sublittoral sand associations in the European seas

Benthos of a sublittoral sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea: general considerations

The benthic fauna of the Kwinte Bank, a linear sandbank in the Belgian coastal waters of the North Sea, was sampled on ten stations in September 1978. This sandbank shows a linear gradient from fine sandy sediments in the south to coarser sandy sediments in the north as a result of the tidal current pattern in the region. The influence of this gradient on macro- and meiofauna was studied. Diversity of polychaetes and harpacticoid copepods is correlated with median grain size of the sand fraction, diversity of nematodes is not. The influence of station location and sediment characteristics on density of all major macrobenthic groups is very outspoken, and linear density trends are common. This is not true for meiofauna in general and nematodes and copepods in particular, which show no correlation between density and sediment. However, ostracods and halacarids are more numerous in coarser sediments

Benthos of the Kwinte Bank (an exploited sandbank in the Southern Bight)

This paper summarizes studies on the meio- and macrofauna of a linear subtidal sandbank, the Kwinte Bank, situated in the Belgian Coastal waters, which is exploited for sand and gravel. The distribution of the macrofauna is strongly correlated with the gradient in grain size, but this is much less the case for the meiofauna. Especially nematodes seem to be able to exploit microhabitats more efficiently than the macrofauna

Benthic studies of the Southern Bight of the North Sea and its adjacent continental estuaries: Progress Report 1

A summary of work on benthic communities in the Southern Bight of the North Sea and adjacent estuaries is presented. This work investigates patterns in species composition, in density and biomass which are stable enough, both in the temporal and spatial domain, to be used as baseline data in monitoring, and from which information on systems functioning can be obtained