12 Soft-Bottom Fauna of a Tropical (Bane d' Arguin,
Mauritania) and a Temperate Ouist Area, German
North Sea Coast) Intertidal Area
H. MICHAELIS and W.J. WOLFF
12.1 Introduction
Numerous studies all over the world have dealt with the ecology of the intertidal soft-bottom fauna. Piersma et al. (1993) reviewed literature data of the
zoobenthic biomass of intertidal soft-bottom areas in tropical and temperate
latitudes. They encountered a tremendous variety of methods and therefore
claimed methodically standardized, comparable studies, in the ideal case performed by identical persons or institutions. A number of studies fulfill this
prerequesite, e.g. Reise (1991) (investigating the northern temperate German,
the tropical Thailandic and the southern temperate Chilenic coasts), Wolff
and Smit (1990) (comparing Mauritania and the Dutch Wadden Sea) and, in a
further study (Wolff 1991), also including a part of the Rhine-ScheIdt Delta.
Reise (1991) and Wolff (1991) suggested a hypothesis of large-scale gradients
with a significant increase of macrobenthic species richness but a decline of
abundance and biomass from high temperate to low tropical geographical
latitudes. Intermediate values from southern Portugal (Sprung 1994) seem to
support this view.
On the other hand, concerning the narrow sandy beach habitats, Jaramillo
and Lastra (Chap. 3, this Vol.) found beach morpho dynamics connected to
wave exposure and biological interactions to be the dominant factors governing the structure of macrobenthic assemblages along several thousand kilometers of shorelines from high to low latitudes in different continents.
In the present study, we investigated the soft-bottom fauna of the shallows
of the Banc d' Arguin on the tropical Mauritanian coast, and the tidal flats of
the island Juist, part of the German Wadden Sea in the temperate North Sea
(Fig. 12.1).The criteria used for the comparison are habitat division, species
richness of macrozoobenthos and abundance, biomass and trophic structure.
Both areas playa prominent role in the network of the East Atlantic Flyway of
palaearctic waders (Altenburg et al. 1982; Smit and Piersma 1989; Wolff and
Smit 1990). The Banc d'Arguin is a main wintering area and the Wadden Sea
Ecological Studies, Vol. 151
K. Reise (ed.) Ecological Comparisons
of Sedimentary Shores
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2001
Mauritania) and a Temperate Ouist Area, German
North Sea Coast) Intertidal Area
H. MICHAELIS and W.J. WOLFF
12.1 Introduction
Numerous studies all over the world have dealt with the ecology of the intertidal soft-bottom fauna. Piersma et al. (1993) reviewed literature data of the
zoobenthic biomass of intertidal soft-bottom areas in tropical and temperate
latitudes. They encountered a tremendous variety of methods and therefore
claimed methodically standardized, comparable studies, in the ideal case performed by identical persons or institutions. A number of studies fulfill this
prerequesite, e.g. Reise (1991) (investigating the northern temperate German,
the tropical Thailandic and the southern temperate Chilenic coasts), Wolff
and Smit (1990) (comparing Mauritania and the Dutch Wadden Sea) and, in a
further study (Wolff 1991), also including a part of the Rhine-ScheIdt Delta.
Reise (1991) and Wolff (1991) suggested a hypothesis of large-scale gradients
with a significant increase of macrobenthic species richness but a decline of
abundance and biomass from high temperate to low tropical geographical
latitudes. Intermediate values from southern Portugal (Sprung 1994) seem to
support this view.
On the other hand, concerning the narrow sandy beach habitats, Jaramillo
and Lastra (Chap. 3, this Vol.) found beach morpho dynamics connected to
wave exposure and biological interactions to be the dominant factors governing the structure of macrobenthic assemblages along several thousand kilometers of shorelines from high to low latitudes in different continents.
In the present study, we investigated the soft-bottom fauna of the shallows
of the Banc d' Arguin on the tropical Mauritanian coast, and the tidal flats of
the island Juist, part of the German Wadden Sea in the temperate North Sea
(Fig. 12.1).The criteria used for the comparison are habitat division, species
richness of macrozoobenthos and abundance, biomass and trophic structure.
Both areas playa prominent role in the network of the East Atlantic Flyway of
palaearctic waders (Altenburg et al. 1982; Smit and Piersma 1989; Wolff and
Smit 1990). The Banc d'Arguin is a main wintering area and the Wadden Sea
Ecological Studies, Vol. 151
K. Reise (ed.) Ecological Comparisons
of Sedimentary Shores
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2001