Report: Macrozoobenthos: Recruitment dynamics in eulitoral soft soils: Larvae Offer, Settlement, Dispersion – North Sea (2003)»
Description
Within the question of which processes and factors determine the distribution and abundance of marine species, recruitment has become increasingly important as a structuring process. Recruitment itself is complex and depends on a variety of factors before and after larvae settlement. The main objective of this thesis was to clarify the question of how the processes of larvae supply, larvae settlement and secondary dispersion influence the recruitment of macrozoobenthos in eulitoral soft soil communities of the North Sea. The severe winter 1995/96 was used as a natural large-scale experiment to document the influence of these processes on the repopulation and the formation of two different community structures. [...]» Recruitment dynamics of North Sea Macrozoobenthos in intertidal soft bottoms: larval availability, settlement and dispersal.
One of the most fundamental challenges in ecology is to understand the underlying causes of patterns in distribution and abundance of species. As ecologists have grappeled with this question, the role of recruitment as a structuring process has attracted increasing attention over the last two decades. Much of the recent work has focused on how pre- and post settlement processes involved into recruitment affect the temporal and spatial pattern of invertebrate populations and communities. This thesis investigates how larval supply, larval settlement and secondary dispersal in relation to environmental conditions affected recruitment of Macrozoobenthos living in an intertidal sand flat located in the German Wadden Sea (North Sea). The severe winter 1995 (96 was used as a natural large-scale experiment to study how these processes contribute to the recovery from such a disturbance and to asses the structural development of two different assemblages. [...]’