Realm: Marine
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate shelf and seas ecoregions
Central latitude: 56.729642
Central longitude: 18.236359
Duration: 25 years, from 1980 to 2005

3587 records

212 distinct species

Across the time series Diastylis rathkei is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Macrozoobenthic data compiled for this study comprisethe southern Baltic Sea and in particular the German Balticwaters. The data sets analysed are based on 625 stationssampled by the Baltic Sea Research Institute during thepast 10 years. Benthic samples were taken with a 0.1 m2van Veen grab. Depending on sediment composition. grabsof different weights were used. Three (or two) replicates ofgrab samples were taken at each station. Additionally adredge haul (net mesh size 5 mm) was taken in order toobtain mobile or rare species. Exceptionally. in the shallowinner coastal waters a hand corer with an area of 78.5 cm2was applied. All samples were sieved through a 1-mmscreen and animals were preserved in the field with 4%formaldehyde. For sorting in the laboratory. a stereomicroscopewith 10?40? magnification was used. All macrofaunasamples were identified to the lowest possibletaxonomic level. The nomenclature was checked followingthe European Register of Marine Species (Costello et al..2001). For the characterisation of the habitat (i.e.. assessmentof sediment structure or species on the sedimentsurface). an underwater video-system mounted on a sledgewas used. The salinity of near bottom waters was measuredby hand-held equipment in coastal waters or by means of aship-based CTD-sensor in offshore waters. Unit of abundance = IndCountInt, Unit of biomass = NA

Citation(s)

Zettler, M.L. (2005) Macrozoobenthos baltic sea (1980-2005) as part of the IOW-Monitoring. Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Germany. Available at: http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?dataset=2289, accessed 2012.