Infauna fromZostera marina L. meadows in Norway. Differences in vegetated and unvegetated areas

Abstract

To investigate the importance of benthic vegetation for shallow infaunal assemblages, macroinvertebrates were sampled inZostera marina meadows and in adjacent bare sand at three sites in the Skagerrak region and one in the Western part of Norway. A total of 3777 individuals were encountered, representing mainly the faunal groups Annelida, Nemertea, Echinodermata, Crustacea and Mollusca. Twice as many individuals were found in theZ. marina meadows compared to the bare sand. Oligochaetes were the most abundant group (29% of total number of individuals), followed by crustaceans (24%), polychaetes (18.5%) and molluscs (16%). Polychaetes showed the highest species number (42), followed by molluscs (30) and crustaceans (26). Multivariate cluster technique showed the highest similarities within sites and thereafter grouping according to the two different habitats;Zostera and sand. No regional differences were evident between the Skagerrak sites and the site in Western Norway, as the site from Western Norway grouped together with one of the Skagerrak sites. The high biodiversity inZostera marina beds should have implications for the management of such areas.

Keywords:

• Biodiversity
• infauna
• sand
• seagrass
• Zostera marina

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

The Research Council of Norway founded this study. We thank Kjell Magnus Norderhaug for help with the multivariate analysis, Vegard Vikshåland Kne for help with the statistics, Rita Amundsen and Sissel Øverås for help with the sediment analysis, and Marine Research Institute, Flødevigen, for help during the field sampling. CB was funded by the Academy of Finland. We are grateful for very valuable comments from referees that improved the paper.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark