Über Massenvorkommen verschiedener makrobenthaler Wirbelloser während der Wiederbesiedlungsphase nach Schädigungen durch "katastrophale" Umwelteinflüsse

Abstract

In a subsection of the German Bight, qualitative and quantitative studies on population dynamics, conducted during 1961 to 1965, revealed significant effects of the severe winter of 1962/63 on the abundance of bottom-living species. Catastrophic reductions in abundance, due to very cold winters, are followed by unusually large individual numbers of certain animals during the phase of recolonization. The unusually high abundance of the sedentary polychaete Sphiophanes bombyx recorded after the cold winter of 1962/63 is related to an almost complete absence of Angulus fabula. This mussel represents the type of the so-called "pipetting" animals, and consumes, under normal environmental conditions, the majority of planktotrophic larvae, which are about to settle on the sea bottom. © 1970 Biologischen Anstalt Helgoland.