Investigation of interrelations between sediment and near-bottom environmental parameters and macrozoobenthic distribution patterns for the Baltic Sea [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Mayya Gogina

Gogina

Sujets

• Biologie

Informations

• Publié par: ernst-moritz-arndt-universitat_greifswald
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

Investigation of interrelations
between sediment and near-bottom environmental parameters and
macrozoobenthic distribution patterns for the Baltic Sea

I n a u g u r a l d i s s e r t a t i o n

zur

Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines

Doktors der Naturwissenschaften

der

Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät

der

Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald


vorgelegt von
Mayya Gogina
geboren am 21.05.1982
in Moskau



Greifswald, 08 Januar 2010




















Dekan: Prof. Dr. Klaus Fesser


1. Gutachter : Prof. Dr. Jan Harff

2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Graf


Tag der Promotion: 3 Juni 2010
A doctoral thesis at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald can be produced either as a
monograph or, recently, as a collection of papers. In the latter case, the introductory part
constitutes the formal thesis, which summarizes the accompanying papers. These have either
been published or are manuscripts at various stages (in press, accepted, submitted).
i
ii
Erklärung
Nach § 4 Abs. 1 der Promotionsordnung der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät
der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald vom 24. April 2007 (zuletzt geändert durch
Änderungssatzung vom 26. Juni 2008):

Hiermit erkläre ich, dass diese Arbeit bisher von mir weder an der Mathematisch-
Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald noch einer
anderen wissenschaftlichen Einrichtung zum Zwecke der Promotion eingereicht wurde.
Ferner erkläre ich, daß ich diese Arbeit selbständig verfasst und keine anderen als die darin
angegebenen Hilfsmittel benutzt habe.




Greifswald, den
iii
Abbreviations
AIC Akaike’s information criterion
BSH Bundesamt für Schiffahrt und Hydrographie (Federal Maritime and
Hydrographic Agency)
BTA biological trait analysis
CCA canonical correspondence analysis
DEM digital elevation model
DYNAS Dynamics of natural and anthropogenic sedimentation
GIS geographic information system
GAM generalized additive model
GLM generalized linear
HELCOM Helsinki Commission
IOW Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde (The Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea
Research, Warnemünde)
LAEA Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection
nMDS non-metric multidimensional scaling
PCA principal component analysis
UTM Universal Transversal Mercator
WGS84 World Geographic System 84
iv
Summary (Zusammenfassung)
The objectives of the present work are to relate the spatial distribution of benthic macrofauna
in the Baltic Sea to patterns in environmental variables describing near-bottom hydrographical
conditions and sediment characteristics, analyzing the data for two various spatial extents. It is
mainly based on the data included in the Benthos Databank of the IOW. Other data considered
originated from various available database and historical data on distribution of macrobenthic
species (such as data provided by the Institut für Angewandte Ökologie, HELCOM monitoring
data, Baltic Sea Alien Species Database). The external sources of abiotic data used included
the data from BSH, Baltic Sea bathymetry datasets, modelled hydrographical data,
sedimentological database of the IOW, and seabed sediments map produced by the EU-
BALANCE project.
The first case study is devoted to an exploratory statistical description of the prevailing
ecological structure within the limited area attached to the region of the Mecklenburg Bight. By
defining the study area, we aimed to lessen the dominance of near-bottom salinity and oxygen
concentration (known to be the dominating factors defining the Baltic Sea biodiversity) in the
analysis to illuminate the impact of others. Detection of the induced spatial dependencies,
examination of the environmental framework and isolation of abiotic predictors of species
distribution were executed by means of various statistical methods (e.g. rank correlation,
hierarchical clustering, nMDS, BIOENV, CCA). Thus, key environmental descriptors of spatial
distribution of macrofaunal communities were disclosed. Within the area of investigation, these
were: water depth, regarded as a proxy for other environmental factors (it determines food
quality, food availability, light penetration; partial correlation analysis for the considered abiotic
variables revealed depth to be the primary descriptor for total organic content, salinity and
median grain size) and total organic content. Distinct benthic assemblages that are
discriminated by particular species (Hydrobia ulvae–Scoloplos armiger, Lagis koreni–Mysella
bidentata and Capitella capitata–Halicryptus spinulosus) were defined. Each assemblage is
related to different spatial subarea and is characterized by a certain variability of environmental
factors. This study represented the basis for the predictive modelling of species distribution in
the selected investigation area, which constituted the next part of the investigation.
Species-specific models predicting the probability of occurrence relative to environmental and
sedimentological characteristics were developed for 29 representative macrofaunal species
using a logistic regression modelling approach. This way, for most species a good description
of their occurrence along gradients of single environmental variables was obtained. Overall,
the results showed moderate to high concordance (e.g., 64.1-93.5% for models considering
the water depth as predictor, 57.4-94.3% for models predicting the probability of species
occurrence relative to total organic content). Subsequently, the technique for a predictive
v
modelling of species distributions in response to abiotic parameters based on single-factor
logistic regression models, utilizing Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and Akaike weights for
multimodel inference, was used. Thus, probabilities of occurrence for selected exemplary
species (Arctica islandica, Hediste diversicolor, Pygospio elegans, Tubificoides benedii and
Scoloplos armiger) were modelled and mapped. The very similar approach was used to model
the benthic species’ response of their physical environment in the Pomeranian Bay (southern
Baltic Sea). In the scheme of the dominance of strong salinity gradient over the brackish
system, consistently small patches of comparatively higher or lower benthic diversity (the
Shannon–Wiener diversity index ranges in various areas of the Pomeranian Bay
approximately from 1 to 3.9) do emerge in areas where either environmental or anthropogenic
impacts on the benthic habitat change drastically over short spatial distances. Hence, spatial
diversity of ecological factors creates diversity among benthic colonization and community
structures. The possibility to predict thereby induced benthic colonization areas and
community structures inside the broad scheme of a brackish water habitat is shown through a
logistic modelling approach. The study represents one of the first applications of this technique
to benthic habitats of the Baltic Sea.
Finally, the investigation proceeded on a large spatial scale. The discriminating ability of such
factors as salinity, bathymetry (as indirect variable replacing a combination of different
recourses and direct gradients - a primary descriptor for other abiotic factors) and sediment
characteristics (considered only generally due to the lack of more detailed data) to explain the
occurrence of typical macrozoobenthic species on the Baltic Sea-wide extend was tested. Full
coverage macrofauna distribution maps, though being increasingly demanded, are generally
lacking, with information being merely restricted to point observations. In contrast to spatial
interpolation, periled by presence of short distance changes in community structure and
dependence of the result on density of the samples, predictive habitat suitability modelling
allows to objectively produce distribution maps at a level of detail limited only by the availability
and resolution of the environmental data. Various literature sources and available databases
were analyzed in respect to the information on macrozoobenthos distribution in the Baltic Sea,
resulting in the compilation of an extensive list of taxa and an inventory dataset on species
distribution for the whole Baltic Sea.
The study demonstrates the need to analyze species’ relationships in gradient systems such
as the Baltic Sea and provides a basis for a tool to predict natural and anthropogenic forced
changes in species distribution.


vi
Table of contents
Part A: Scientific Framework
Erklärung iii
Abbreviations iv
Summary (Zusammenfassung) v
Table of contents vii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Objectives and aims of the thesis 2
1.2 Causes of changes in benthic habitats and communities 4
1.3 Successive steps of predictive geographical modelling 6
61.4 Exploring the prevailing ecological structure