Description: The importance of macrobenthos in benthic‐pelagic coupling and early diagenesis of organic carbon (OC) has long been recognized but has not been quantified at a regional scale. By using the southern North Sea as an exemplary area we present a modelling attempt to quantify the budget of total organic carbon (TOC) reworked by macrobenthos in seafloor surface sediments. Vertical profiles in sediments collected in the field indicate a significant but nonlinear correlation between TOC and macrobenthic biomass. A mechanistic model is used to resolve the bi‐directional interaction between TOC and macrobenthos. A novelty of this model is that bioturbation is resolved dynamically depending on variations in local food resource and macrobenthic biomass. The model is coupled to 3D hydrodynamic‐biogeochemical simulations to hindcast the mutual dependence between sedimentary TOC and macrobenthos from 1948 to 2015. Agreement with field data reveals a satisfactory model performance. Our simulations show that the preservation of TOC in the North Sea sediments is not only determined by pelagic conditions (hydrodynamic regime and primary production) but also by the vertical distribution of TOC, bioturbation intensity, and the vertical positioning of macrobenthos. Macrobenthos annually ingest 20%–35% and in addition vertically diffuse 11%–22% of the total budget of TOC in the upper‐most 30 cm sediments in the southern North Sea. This result indicates a central role of benthic animals in modulating the OC cycling at the sediment‐water interface of continental margins.

Description: The authors regret that the specified units of bioirrigation activity (Ic) and the indices (i.e. IPc,AFDM, IPc,WM, BPc,WM, BPc,AFDM) were incorrect in the original publication. Bioirrigation activity was presented in l/m25 min rather than in l/m2h and the indices were calculated per experimental core rather than per m2. Nevertheless, this does not affect the results and also the conclusions remain unchanged. AICc values for the best models of IPc,AFDM, IPc,WM, BPc,WM, BPc,AFDM have not changed in relation to each other, although they differ in value. The corrected version of Appendix B includes the corrected statistical details (i.e. AICc values). The corrected version of the Fig. 1 is provided below. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Description: Sediment reworking by benthic infauna, namely bioturbation, is of pivotal importance in expansive soft-sediment environments such as the Wadden Sea. Bioturbating fauna facilitate ecosystem functions such as bentho-pelagic coupling and sediment nutrient remineralization capacities. Yet, these benthic fauna are expected to be profoundly affected by current observed rising sea temperatures. In order to predict future changes in ecosystem functioning in soft-sediment environments like the Wadden Sea, knowledge on the underlying processes such as sediment reworking, is crucial. Here, we tested how temperature affects bioturbation and its associated ecosystem processes, such as benthic nutrient fluxes and sediment oxygen consumption, using luminophore tracers and sediment incubation cores. We used a controlled mesocosm experiment set-up with key Wadden Sea benthos species: the burrowing polychaetes Arenicola marina and Hediste diversicolor, the bivalve Cerastoderma edule, and the tube-building polychaete Lanice conchilega. The highest bioturbation rates were observed from A. marina, reaching up to 375 cm2yr−1; followed by H. diversicolor, with 124 cm2yr−1 being the peak bioturbation rate for the ragworm. Additionally, the sediment reworking activity of A. marina facilitated nearly double the amount of silicate efflux compared to any other species. Arenicola marina and H. diversicolor accordingly facilitated stronger nutrient effluxes under a warmer temperature than L. conchilega and C. edule. The oxygen uptake of A. marina and H. diversicolor within the sediment incubation cores was correspondingly enhanced with a higher temperature. Thus, increases in sea temperatures may initially be beneficial to ecosystem functioning in the Wadden Sea as faunal bioturbation is definitely expedited, leading to a tighter coupling between the sediment and overlying water column. The enhanced bioturbation activity, oxygen consumption, and facilitated nutrient effluxes from these invertebrates themselves, will aid in the ongoing high levels of primary productivity and organic matter production.