Abstract
In this paper recent benthic biological studies in the Eastern Gotland Basin area of the Baltic Sea are summarised. A general pattern of vertical distribution of macrofauna is presented and special reference is made to sharp temporal changes in macrofauna of deeper, subhalocline areas of the basin. Information on faunal sediment reworking ability is compiled. The environmental factors driving benthic zonation are discussed and the vertical benthic zones are defined on the basis of their major biological and abiotic features. This analysis shows that due to sharp gradients in environment and clear differences in composition of macrofauna, the ecological functioning of the Eastern Gotland Basin benthic zones is clearly different. Therefore, in the biogeochemical models of benthic-pelagic interaction, these zones (together with water layers they underlie) should be treated separately, as different sub-systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ANDERSIN, A.-B., J. LASSIG, L. PARKKONEN and H. SANDLER, 1978. The decline of macrofauna in the deeper parts of the Baltic Proper and Gulf of Finland. Kieler Meeresforsch., 4: 23–52.
BARETTA-DEKKER, J.G., E.K. DUURSMA and B.R. KUIPERS, Eds., 1992. Encyclopedia of Marine Scienes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
BREY, T., 1986. Increase in macrozoobenthos above the halocline in Kiel Bay comparing the 1960s with the 1980s. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 28: 299–302.
CEDERWALL, H., 1979. Energy flow and fluctuations of deeper soft bottom communities in the Baltic Sea. Askö laboratory and Department of Zoology University of Stockholm, Sweden, 1–23.
DEMEL, K. and Z. MULICKI, 1954. Quantitative studies on biological productivity of the southern Baltic bottom (Studia ilościowe nad wydajności biologiczna dna poludniowego Bałtyku). Prace Morsk. Inst. Ryback. w Gdyni, 7: 75–126 (in Polish, cit. by Järvekülg, 1979).
DIAZ, R.J. and R. ROSENBERG, 1995. Marine benthic hypoxia: a review of its ecological effects and the behavioral responses of benthic macrofauna. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., 33:245–303.
ELMGREN, R., 1978. Structure and dynamics of Baltic benthos communities, with particular reference to the relationship between macro- and meiofauna. Kieler Meeresforsch., 4:1–22.
EMELJANOV, E.M. and V.N. LUKASHIN, Eds., 1986. Geochemistry of sedimentation process in the Baltic Sea (Geochimiya osadochnogo processa v Baltijskom more). Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
FAUCHALD, K. and P. JUMARS, 1979. The diet of worms: a study of polychaete feeding guilds. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., 17: 193–284.
FRANCK, H. and W. MATTHÄUS, 1992. The absence of effective major inflows and the present changes in the hydrographic conditions of the central Baltic deep water. In: E. Bjørnestad, L. Hagerman, K. Jensen, Eds. 12th Baltic Mar. Biol. Symp. Olsen and Olsen, Fredensborg, p. 53–60.
GERLACH, S.A., 1994. Oxygen conditions improve when the salinity in the Baltic Sea decreases. Mar. Poll. Bul., 28: 413–416.
GISLEN, T., 1930. Epibioses of the Gulmar Fjord. Kristenbergs Zoologiska Station, 4: 46–62.
GRAF, G., 1992. Benthic-pelagic coupling: a benthic view. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., 30: 149–190.
HELCOM, 1984. Guidelines for the Baltic Monitoring Programme. Helsinki.
JONSSON, P., R. CARMAN, and F. WULFF, 1990. Laminated sediments in the Baltic — A tool for evaluating nutrient mass balances. Ambio, 19: 152–158.
JÄRVEKÜLG, A. 1979. Bottom fauna of the Eastern part of the Baltic Sea. (Donnaja fauna vosochnoj chasti altijskogo morja). Valgus, Tallinn (in Russian).
JÄRVEKÜLG, A. and S. OLENIN, 1989. Zoobenthos. In: Main trends in ecosystem evolution. Project ‘Baltika’ (Osnovnyje tendencii evolucii ekosistemy. Proekt Baltika), 4. Hydrometeoizdat, Leningrad, p. 102–105 (in Russian).
KALEJS, M. 1984. The oxygen regime of the Baltic Sea. In: Essays on the Baltic Sea biological productivity (Ocherki po biologicheskoj produktivnosti Baltijskogo morja, T.1). Moscow, p. 68–82 (in Russian).
KALEJS, M. and R. TAMSALU, 1984. The salinity regime of the Baltic Sea. The temperature regime of the Baltic Sea. In: Essays on the Baltic Sea biological productivity (Ocherki po biologicheskoj produktivnosti Baltijskogo morja, T.1). Moscow, p. 33–67 (in Russian).
KUZNETZOV, A.P., 1980. Ecology of bottom communities of shelf zones of the World Ocean. Trophological structure of the bottom fauna (Ekologiya donnych soobschestv shel'fovych zon Mirovogo Okeana. Trofologicheskaya struktura donnoj fauny). Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
LAINE A., H. SANDLER, A.-B. ANDERSIN and J. STIGZELIUS, 1997. Long-term changes of macrozoobenthos in the Eastern Gotland Basin and the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) in relation to the hydrographical regime. J. Sea Res. 38 (in press).
LEE, H. and R.C. SWARTZ, 1980. Biological processes affecting the distribution of pollutants in marine sediments. Part II. Biodeposition and Bioturbation. In: R.A. Baker, Ed., Contaminants and Sediments. Vol. 2. Ann Arbor Science Publ., Ann Arbor, Michigan, p. 555–606.
LEPPÄKOSKI, E., 1969. Transitory return of the benthic fauna of the Bornholm Basin, after extermination by oxygen insufficiency. Cahiers Biol. Mar. 10, 2: 163–172.
MATTHÄUS, W., 1990. Mixing across the primary Baltic halocline. Beitr. Meereskd., 61: 21–31.
MULICKI, Z., 1957. Ecology of the main bottom invertebrates of the Baltic Sea (Ekologija wazniejszych bezkrègowców dennych Bałtyku). Prace Morsk. Inst. Ryback. w Gdyni, 9: 313–379 (in Polish).
NEHRING, D., 1990. Die hydrographisch-chemischen Bedingungen in der westlichen und zentralen Ostsee von 1979 bis 1988 — ein Verleich. Meereswiss. Berichte des Instituts für Meereskunde, Warnemünde, 2: 3–45.
NEHRING, D., W. MATTHÄUS, H.-U. LASS and G. NAUSCH, 1994. Die hydrographisch-chemischen Bedingungen in der westlichen und zentralen Ostsee im Jahre 1993. German J. Hydrogr., 46: 151–162.
NEHRING, D., W. MATTHÄUS, H.-U. LASS, G. NAUSCH and K. NAGEL, 1995. The Baltic Sea 1994 — Consequences of the Hot Summer and Inflow Events. German J. of Hydrogr., 47: 131–144.
OLAFSSON, E.B., 1986. Density dependence in suspension feeding and deposit feeding populations of the bivalveMacoma baltica: a field experiment. J. Animal Ecol., 55: 517–526.
OLENIN, S., 1992. Occurrence of malacostraca Glacial Relicts in the Eastern Part of the Baltic Sea in 1981–1991. Abstracts. Symp. on Glacial Relict and Rare Crustacea. September 22–25,1992; Gdynia, Poland.
OLENIN, S., 1994. Some biological consequences of deep water stagnation in the Eastern Gotland Basin, Baltic Sea in 1980s. In: R. V. Thurston, Ed., Environmental studies in the Nemunas river basin, Lithuania. Technical Report 94-1. Fisheries Bioassay Laboratory. Montana State University, Bozeman, USA. 1994, p. 147–155.
OLENIN, S., 1995. Marine benthic biotopes and bottom communities of the south-eastern Baltic shallow waters. In: 30th European Marine Biology Symposium. September 18–22,1995, Southampton, United Kingdom (in press).
OLENIN, S., 1996. Comparative study of the south-eastern Baltic coastal zone and the Curonian Lagoon bottom communities. In: A. Andrushaitis, Ed., 13th Baltic Mar. Biol. Symp., Riga. University Publ.: 151–159.
OLENINA, I. and R. KAVOLYTÉ, 1996. Phytoplankton, chlorophyll ‘a’ and environmental conditions in the southeastern coastal zone of the Baltic Sea. In: A. Andrushaitis, Ed., 13th Baltic Mar. Biol. Symp., Riga. University Publ.: 49–58.
PARSONS, T.R., M. TAKAHASHI and B. HARGRAVE, 1984. Biological oceanographic processes. -3rd. Pergamon international library. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
POWILLEIT, M., J. KITLAR and G. GRAF, 1994. Particle and fluid bioturbation caused by the priapulid wormHalicryptus spinulosus (V. Seibold). Sarsia 79: 109–117.
PRENA, J., 1995. Effects of eutrophication on macrozoobenthos zonation in Wismar Bay (Western Baltic Sea). Arch. Hydrobiol. 133: 245–257.
PUSTELNIKOV, O., G. BUBLITZ and K. PANCHERZEWSKI, 1984. Bottom sediments. In: Essays on the Baltic Sea biological productivity (Ocherki po biologicheskoj produktivnosti Baltijskogo morja, T.1). Moscow, p. 354–364 (in Russian).
PUSTELNIKOV, O., 1990. Hydrological conditions and morphological-lithological characteristic of the coast and sea bottom. In: Catastrophe of the oil-tanker ‘Globe Assimi’ and its ecological consequences (Katastrofa neftenalivnogo tankera ‘Globe Assimi’ i ejo ekologicheskije posledstvija). Hydrometeoizdat, Moscow, p. 16–23 (in Russian)
RUMOHR, H., 1987. A. HAGMEIER'S contribution to our knowledge of the benthos of the Baltic. Mitt. Zool. Museum Universität Kiel, II, Heft 5,1–32.
RUMOHR, J. and E. WALGER, Eds., 1987. Seawater-Sediment Interactions in Coastal Waters. An Interdisciplinary Approach. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
SEGERSTRÅLE, S.G., 1962. Investigations of the Baltic populations of the bivalve Macoma baltica (L.). Part II. What are the reasons for the periodic failure of recruitment and scarcity ofMacoma in the deeper waters of the inner Baltic ? Comment. Biol. Soc. Sci. Fennici 24(7): 1–26.
SEIRE, A., 1988. Benthic fauna in the deep areas of the Gulf of Finland and Eastern Gotland Basin in 1984 and 1985. Proc. Ac. Sc. of the Estonian SSR, Biology; Tallinn; 37 (1): 67–73.
SEIRE, A., 1992. Benthic macrofauna of the deep areas of the Gulf of Finland in 1989/1990 compared with earlier investigations. In: E. Bjørnestad, L. Hagerman and K. Jensen, Eds., 12th Baltic Marine Biologists Symposium. Olsen and Olsen, Fredensborg, p. 151–156.
SHURIN, A. T., 1968. Status of bottom fauna during period from 1900 to 1962 in the changing conditions of the Baltic Sea. In: Fishery research (Rybokhozyaistvennye Issledovaniya, Baltnürkh). Riga, Zvaigzne, 4: 61–88 (In Russian).
SVESHNIKOV, V.A., 1963. Biocenotic relationships and living conditions of some intertidal infaunal invertebrates of the Kandalaksha Bay. the White Sea. In: Proc. of Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve (Trudy Kandalakshskogo Gosudarstvennogo Zapovednika), 4, 114–134. (in Russian).
ŠTUKOVA, Z., 1996. Bacterioplankton in the Kuršiù marios lagoon and in the south-eastern Baltic coastal waters. Summary of doctoral dissertation. Vilnius, Institute of Ecology 22–36.
THEEDE, H., A. PONAT, K. HIROKI and C. SCHLIEPER, 1969. Studies on the resistance of marine bottom invertebrates to oxygen-defiency and hydrogen sulphide. Mar. Biol. 2:325–337.
TSIKHON-LUKANINA, E.A., 1987. Trophology of aquatic molluscs (Trofologiya vodnych molluskov). Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
USHAKOV, P.V., 1949. System of vertical zones of the Ochotsk Sea (Sistema vertikal'nych zon Ochotskogo morja). Doklady Akad. Nauk SSSR, 68: 769–772 (in Russian).
VEDEL, A., B. ANDERSEN and H.U. RIISGÅRD. 1994. Field investigations of pumping activity of the facultatively filter-feeding polychaeteNereis diversicolor using an improved infrared phototransducer system. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 103: 91–101.
WARZOCHA, J., 1995. Classifiction and structure of macrofaunal communities in the southern Baltic. Arch. Fish. Mar. Res. 42:225–237.
ZMUDZINSKI, L., 1978. The Evolution of Macrobenthic Deserts in the Baltic Sea. XI Conference of Baltic Oceanographers, Vol. 2, Rostock, p. 780–794.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Olenin, S. Benthic zonation of the Eastern Gotland Basin, Baltic Sea. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology 30, 265–282 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02085871
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02085871