Publikationsdatum:
2023-06-21
Beschreibung:
The study of ecosystem functioning – the fluxes of energy and material through biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem – is becoming increasingly important in benthic ecological research. We investigated the functional structure of macrozoobenthic communities at four long-term sampling sites in the southern North Sea using biological traits assigned to life history, morphological and behavioural characteristics. The “typical” species of the macrofaunal assemblages at the sampling sites was characterized by small to medium body size, infaunal burrowing life style, deposit feeding habit, omnivory diet type, short to medium life span, gonochoristic sexual differentiation, 〈 2 years age at maturity, high fecundity, and planktotrophic development mode. Functional diversity differed significantly among the four sites. As part of the present study, trait information for 〉 330 macrofaunal taxa have been compiled in a comprehensive database.
Repository-Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Materialart:
Inbook
,
peerRev
Format:
application/pdf
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