Övervakning av mjukbottenfaunan längs Sveriges västkust Rapport från verksamheten år 2001

• Summary in English The soft-sediment macrofauna of the west coast of Sweden is monitored by commission of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The purpose is to detect long time changes in the marine environment, principally caused by eutrophication and oxygen deficiency. Fourteen localities along the coast were sampled in May 2001. Four samples were taken with a 0,1m2 Smith-McIntyre grab at each locality. The red-ox condition of the sediment was also measured at each locality. All fauna retrieved on a 1mm sieve was taxonomically identified and counted. A total of 15177 individuals belonging to 175 different species were identified. Neither the red-ox measurements nor the oxygen measurements, performed within the monitorinprogram of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, indicate that there had been any periods with critically low oxygen levels at any of the localities during the year. Analysis of similarity in the community structure between localities show that those located shallower than 50 m are, in some respects, faunistically different than localities situated deeper than 50m. There are a marked successive northward reduction in number of individuals and biomass among the localities situated at 100 m depth in Skagerrak. This indicates that the soft sediment communities in Kattegatt and Skagerrak are structured mainly by the contact with the water masses in which the primary production takes place.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Monitoring

Benthic fauna

Swedish westcoast

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)