Description: Bioturbation is one of the key mediators of biogeochemical processes in benthic habitats that can have a high contribution to seafloor functioning and benthic pelagic coupling in coastal waters. Previous studies on bioturbation were limited to point locations and extrapolations in single regions, but have not accounted for regional differences under changing environmental conditions, though there are indications that species contributions will differ across regions or with biotic and abiotic context. To capture those differences and assess global patterns and commonalities, multi-regional analyses are imperative. Here for the first time, bioturbation potential (BPc), a functional indicator of benthic community bioturbation, was estimated based on macrofauna data from four regions (i.e. German Baltic Sea, German North Sea, Belgian part of the North Sea and the Eastern English Channel). For each region and sediment type we identified key species contributing to BPc. Comparison within and across regions demonstrated regional differences, and both overlap and mismatch between species that are functionally important and those that are dominant in biomass. Knowledge on the functionally important species is crucial when management objectives include the protection of certain ecosystem functions. Available environmental layers were used as predictors to model the spatial distribution of BPc for each area and to explore the underlying drivers of differences. Random forest models were trained using as response variables either i) BPc initially calculated per station; or ii) BPp – the species-specific contribution to BPc – for key species (with subsequent summation of their predicted full-coverage distributions to BPc). Maps of BPc distribution predicted by random forest were compared with those generated using natural neighbour interpolation. Overall, derived BPc values increased towards the German parts of the North and Baltic Seas. The relevance of BPc for ecosystem processes and functions, however, vary with biotic and abiotic settings. Results revealed a strong association of BPc with species diversity and region, but less with sediment grain size. A large range of BPc occurred when species richness was low. This suggests that the provisioning of high bioturbation activity is possible also under low diversity, where it is vulnerable due to reduced resilience. The executed multi-regional analysis allowed identifying regional differences in performance of macrofauna, suggesting the need for regionspecific conservation and management strategies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105945 Received 26 July 2019; Received in revised form 12 November 2019; Accepted 14 November 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: mayya.gogina@io-warnemuende.de (M. Gogina). Ecological Indicators 110 (2020) 105945 1470-160X/ Crown Copyright © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T

Description: The MAREANO (Marine AREA database for NOrwegian coast and sea areas) mapping programme includes acquisition of multibeambathymetry and backscatter data together with a comprehensive, integrated biological and geological sampling programme. Equipment used includes underwater video, box corer, grab, epibenthic sled and beam trawl. Habitat maps are produced by combining information on landscapes, landscape elements, sediment types and biological communities. Video observations provide information about the megafauna diversity of large ([1 cm) epifauna and bottom types, whilst bottom samples describe the composition of epifauna, hyperfauna (crustaceans living in the upper part of the sediment and/or swimming just above the substratum) and infauna, and sediment composition. In this study, two biological data sets are used to study fauna response to environmental heterogeneity at two different spatial scales: (1) broad scale, megahabitat (1–10s km), based on information about megafauna taxa observed during video surveys in the Nordland/Troms area, (2) fine scale, mesohabitat (10s m-1 km), based on information about species composition documented with video records and bottom sampling gear from the bank ‘‘Tromsøflaket’’. In general, the highest diversity is found on bottoms with mixed substrates indicating that substratum heterogeneity is very important for the biodiversity at both scales. The number of taxa shows a maximum at depths between 200 and 700 m followed by a gradual decrease down to 2,200 m. At the broad scale, multibeamdata provides a variety of terrain variables that indicate environmental variation (e.g. exposure to currents, interpreted substrates). This analysis identifies six fauna groups associated to specific landscape elements. Diversity of megafauna shows a strong correlation with number of bottom types occurring along video transects. It is highest at the shelf break and decreased with depth on the slope in parallel with a decrease in habitat heterogeneity and temperature. At a fine scale, six biotopes are identified based on megafauna composition with habitat characteristics ranging from homogenous muddy bottom, biotope 1, to the most heterogeneous bottom with[20% rocks and several bottom types present in biotope 6. The macrofauna sampled is used for description of the whole benthic community, including diversity, biomass and production, related to these six biotopes. The variation in percentage cover of substrate types and in particular the cover of hard substrates demonstrate to be a good proxy for the benthic community composition (mega and macrofauna) and its diversity.

Description: The trophic structure of the German Bight soft-bottom benthic community was evaluated for potential changes after cessation of bottom trawling. Species were collected with van-Veen grabs and beam trawls. Trophic position (i.e. nitrogen stable isotope ratios, δ15N) and energy flow (i.e. species metabolism approximated by body mass scaled abundance) of dominant species were compared in trawled areas and an area protected from fisheries for 14 months in order to detect trawling cessation effects by trophic characteristics. At the community level, energy flow was lower in the protected area, but we were unable to detect significant changes in trophic position. At the species level energy flow in the protected area was lower for predating/scavenging species but higher for interface feeders. Species trophic positions of small predators/scavengers were lower and of deposit feeders higher in the protected area. Major reasons for trophic changes after trawling cessation may be the absence of artificial and additional food sources from trawling likely to attract predators and scavengers, and the absence of physical sediment disturbance impacting settlement/survival of less mobile species and causing a gradual shift in food availability and quality. Our results provide evidence that species or community energy flow is a good indicator to detect trawling induced energy-flow alterations in the benthic system, and that in particular species trophic properties are suitable to capture subtle and short-term changes in the benthos following trawling cessation.

Description: Over a decade of monitoring offshore wind park environmental impact triggered a reflection on the overall objectives and how to best continue with the monitoring programmes. Essentially, basic monitoring has to be rationalised at the level of the likelihood of impact detection, the meaningfulness of impact size and representativeness of the findings. Targeted monitoring is crucial and should continue to be applied to disentangle processes behind observed impacts, for instance the overarching artificial reef effect caused by wind parks. The major challenge, however, remains to achieve a reliable assessment of the cumulative impacts. A continuous international consultation and collaboration with marine scientists, managers, government officials and industry will be needed to ensure an optimisation of the future monitoring programmes.

Description: Profound environmental changes, such as drastic sea-ice decline, leave large-scale ecological footprints on the distribution and composition of marine biota in the Arctic. Currently, the impact of such stressors is not sufficiently understood due to the lack of pan-Arctic data that allow for estimating ecological baselines as well as modelling current and forecast potential changes in benthic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Here, we introduce the PAN-Arctic data collection of benthic BIOtas (PANABIO) and discuss its timeliness, potential, and details of its further development. The data collection contains individual datasets with records (presence, counts, abundance, or biomass) of benthic fauna, usually at genus level or species level, which were identified in field samples obtained at point-referenced locations (stations) by means of grabs, towed gear, or seabed imaging. The data cover the entire pan-Arctic realm, i.e.The central Arctic Ocean, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Laptev Sea, Kara Sea, Barents Sea (including the White Sea), Svalbard waters, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, Canadian Archipelago, Beaufort Sea, and Bering Sea as well as some adjacent sub-Arctic regions (Sea of Japan, Gulf of Okhotsk). Currently (as of 14 December 2023), PANABIO includes 27 datasets with a total of 126ĝ€¯388 records of 2978 taxa collected from 11ĝ€¯555 samples taken at 10ĝ€¯596 stations during 1095 cruises between 1800 and 2014. These numbers will increase with more data becoming available over time through contributions from PANABIO users. The data collection is available in a PostgreSQL-based data warehouse that can be accessed and queried through an open-Access front-end web service at https://critterbase.awi.de/panabio (last access: 27 February 2024). A snapshot of the current data collection and its 27 individual datasets is also available from the data publisher PANGAEA (10.1594/PANGAEA.963640, Piepenburg et al., 2023).