Analysing long-term change in small benthos: geomorphological dynamics affects method selection

Armonies, Werner

doi:10.1186/s10152-019-0533-y

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

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“…Armonies [ 59 , 60 ] repeated sampling of historical studies to investigate changes in turbellarian assemblage structure over time for a stable intertidal beach and a dynamic tidal inlet. At the former site he found little evidence for change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities

et al. 2020

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To retain recreational uses and shoreline protection, a large proportion of ocean beaches have been, and continue to be, nourished. Adding sand from subtidal and terrestrial sources to nourish beaches rarely re-creates the original sediment structure of the beach. Numerous studies have demonstrated that meiofaunal communities are altered by changes in sediment composition in low-energy substrates, therefore, we have explored whether beach nourishment has affected exposed, ocean beach meiofaunal communities. Since the early 2000s, we have conducted a series of sampling and experimental studies on meiofauna and sediments on nourished beaches in coastal North Carolina USA that had been sampled previously in the early 1970s, prior to any beach nourishment. Most of our studies consider meiofauna at the level of major taxa only. However, a few studies examine free-living flatworm (turbellarian) species in detail because of the existence of historical studies examining this group. Comparison of contemporary results to historical data and of heavily nourished versus lightly nourished beaches reveals extensive changes to beach sediment structure and meiofaunal community composition, indicating that the beaches are a more heterogeneous habitat than in the past. The effects of these substantial physical and biological changes to the production of beach ecosystem services are unlikely to be inconsequential.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities

et al. 2020

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Platyhelminth fauna of the Island of Sylt: a meta-analysis of distributional patterns and description of 19 new species

Armonies

2023

Mar. Biodivers.

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Over the past 70 years, numerous authors studied the platyhelminth fauna near the island of Sylt in the eastern North Sea, each with a specific focus on varying aspects of ecology, morphology or systematics, and most of them dealing with a single habitat type. These data are combined with new data to get a comprehensive view of species richness, the distribution of individual species across tidal levels and sediment types and the resulting communities. So far, 398 platyhelminth species have been recorded around Sylt island, plus a still growing number of unidentified or undescribed species, in particular from subtidal waters. The distribution over habitat types (as defined by sediment types and tidal level) is described for the known species. Neighbouring habitat types overlap in species composition, and faunal composition changes continuously over environmental gradients. The number of species recorded per habitat type mirrors the sampling intensity and varied between some 20 species in poorly studied habitats and 150 in the well-studied intertidal sand flats. Corrected for variations in sampling intensity, platyhelminth species richness showed no significant differences between sediment types and only moderate variation over tidal levels. On a larger spatial scale, three faunal assemblages can be differentiated: the supratidal harbours brackish-water species (mesohaline in the upper and polyhaline in the lower supratidal), the intertidal polyhaline-marine species with a wide tolerance of variations in physical factors and the subtidal marine (± stenohaline) species. With respect to sediment type, mud and sand dwellers are well separated in the supra- and subtidal belt but less in the intertidal. Provided these rules are general, I conclude platyhelminth species richness in a given section of coastline mainly depends on the ranges of environmental factors covered. Nineteen new species encountered during this study are described.

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Analysing long-term change in small benthos: geomorphological dynamics affects method selection

Cited by 2 publications

References 14 publications

Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities

Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities

Platyhelminth fauna of the Island of Sylt: a meta-analysis of distributional patterns and description of 19 new species

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