Macrozoobenthos of the Baltic Sea

Taxonomic Group	Invertebrates
Level of Organization	Species
Scale	Local
Data Type	Observational, Time series
Accessibility	Publicly available
Data Retriever	No

Time series data on species composition and biomass or abundance of macrozoobenthos in the Belt Sea and the Baltic proper by the Research Institute Warnemünde are available at OBIS. The OBIS compiled data includes species name, individual count, lat/lon, and some environmental correlates like depth and salinity. 

Dataset Location: OBIS Baltic Macrozoobenthos

Direct Download: OBIS Baltic Macrozoobenthos

Site Location: Belt and Baltic Seas

Site(s) Georeferenced: Yes

Timespan: 1980 - 2005**
**

Sampling Frequency: Varies. Some stations are represented by 6-10 data points while others as many as 51-100.**
**

Data Collection Summary / Methods: 19 stations are reported in this dataset. Methods for Macrozoobenthos sampling from a related paper - “Benthic samples were taken with a 0.1 m² van Veen grab. Depending on sediment composition, grabs of different weights were used. Three (or two) replicates of grab samples were taken at each station. Additionally a dredge haul (net mesh size 5 mm) was taken in order to obtain mobile or rare species. Exceptionally, in the shallow inner coastal waters a hand corer with an area of 78.5 cm² was applied. All samples were sieved through a 1-mm screen and animals were preserved in the field with 4% formaldehyde. For sorting in the laboratory, a stereomicroscope with 10–40× magnification was used. All macrofauna samples were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level” (Zettler et al. 2007)

Data collected: species identity, abundance, and habitat charateristics

OBIS data schema: species name, individual count, date, location, temperature, depth, salinity, nitrogen, oxygen, silicate.

Known Issues: It appears that the 19 sampling stations were visited unevenly.

Best Practices: tips for separating the wheat from the chaff
 
Conditions for use: ‘freely available’ and ‘open-access’ as per OBIS: http://iobis.org/about/vision

Citation/ Distributing Author: Zettler M. L., 2005: Macrozoobenthos baltic sea (1980-2005) as part of the IOW-Monitoring. Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Germany

Supplemental resources:

Related Publications -

Schiedek, D.; Zettler, M.L. (2007). Application of benthic indices to assess biodiversity in the southern Baltic Sea: What do they tell us about the ‘ecological status’ in a brackish water system? MarBEF Newsletter 6: 22-23, more

Zettler, M.L.; Schiedek, D.; Bobertz, B. (2007). Benthic biodiversity indices versus salinity gradient in the southern Baltic Sea. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 55(Spec. Issue 1-6): 258-270. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.08.024, more

Zettler, M.L.; Schiedek, D.; Bobertz, B. (2007). Benthic biodiversity indices versus salinity gradient in the southern Baltic Sea, in: Devlin, M. et al. (Ed.) (2007). Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in European marine waters. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 55(Spec. Issue 1-6): pp. 258-270, more

Wasmund, N. et al. (2004). Biologische Zustandseinschätzung der Ostsee im Jahre 2004 = Assessment of the biological state of the Baltic Sea in 2004. Meereswissenschaftliche Berichte = Marine Scientific Reports, 60. Institut für Ostseeforschung: Warnemünde, Germany. 87 pp., more

Zettler, M.L.; Schiedek, D.; Glockzin, M. (2008). Zoobenthos, in: Feistel, R. et al. (Ed.) (2008). State and evolution of the Baltic Sea, 1952-2005: a detailed 50-year survey of meteorology and climate, physics, chemistry, biology, and marine environment. pp. 517-541, more

Available via the EcoData Retriever: No