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The article presents a study which evaluated the effect of variability in hydrodynamic stress on benthic assemblages. The authors did an investigation of deposit-feeding macrobenthos, whether it performs a unimodal response to an intertidal flat hydrodynamic stress gradient, congruent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH). They also examined whether the response is related to assemblage-wide biological trait displacements, reflecting species sorting mechanisms. According to the researchers, the study showed that the alteration of the natural hydrodynamic regime will impact tidal flat benthic community composition, and therefore, ecosystem functioning.

Abstract: Macrobenthos recovery after hypoxia-induced mass mortality was assessed in an estuarine tidal mudflat during 3years. During the first 2years, a Pearson–Rosenberg type of community recovery took place along with the improving bottom water oxygen conditions. After 3months, spionid polychaetes became superabundant (i.e. opportunistic peak), followed rapidly by a steep decline (i.e. ecotone point). Subsequently, a moderate increase in species richness and a steep increase in biomass, related to the growth of long-lived species occurred (i.e. transition region). Afterwards, however, the recovering community diverged again from the ambient, undisturbed, sediments due to enhanced recruitment success of long-lived species presumably resulting from the lowered interference from bioturbation during early recovery stages in the disturbed plots. Hence, despite early community recovery may be more or less deterministic, lagged divergent community reassembling may occur at the longer-term, thereby contributing to benthos patchiness in areas which are frequently subjected to disturbances. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the study which compares AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and the Benthic Quality Index (BQI), two biotic indices which rely on two distinct assessments of species sensitivity and tolerance, based on the MacroBen databases in Europe. It states that the result suggests that the use of a single sensitivity/tolerance list in different geographical areas is not appropriate. It says that the clarification of the sensitivity/tolerance levels of the species identified as problematic during the study should be the focus of the future studies.

The article presents the study on macroecology of the European soft sediment benthos. It discusses the impetus provided by Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MarBEF) to the collation of regional databases of species occurrences, such as the newly available MacroBen database of the European soft sediment benthic fauna. The macroecological summary of the said database is also presented. It states that macroecology provided a novel conceptual framework in which to analyse large-scale patterns in diversity.

The article analyzes patterns of species diversity in a compiled data set covering European coast that was made available in the framework of the Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function (MarBEF) European Network of Excellence. It states that the distribution patterns of species diversity over large areas across the continent is the focus of the analysis. It aims to separate the effects of species-area relationships from that of species accumulation. The relation between species diversity and productivity is also explored.

The article reports on the initial analyses of the European Network of Excellence for Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function (MarBEF) database to test for trends in local and regional diversity over the latitudinal extent of European continental-shelf waters. It states that soft-sediment benthic macrofauna shows little evidence of a latitudinal cline in local diversity measures. It highlights that scientific cooperation through data-sharing is a powerful tool with which to address fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions relating to large-scale patterns and processes.

The article describes an integrated databases on European macobenthic fauna, developed within the framework of the European Network of Excellence Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MarBEF), and the data and data integration exercise that provided its content. It states that a total of 44 datasets including 465,354 distribution records from soft-bottom macrobenthic species were uploaded into the relational MacroBen database, corresponding to 22,897 sampled station from all European seas, and 7,203 valid tax. Moreover, an interface which allows the user to explore, subselect, export and analyse the data by calculating different indices was created.

The article presents a study which analyzes the role of macrofauna-mediated sediment changes on the recovery of nematode community. The researchers examine the temporal development of macrobenthos, sediment properties, and nematode communities following hypoxia in 16 m² replicated plots over a 6-month period. The experiment was conducted at a tidal flat known as Paulina-polder located along the southern shore of the Westerschelde estuary's polyhaline part in Netherlands. It notes that hypoxia has drastically changed the composition of the nematode community, but complete mortality did not occur as compared with the case for macrobenthos. The results show that reassembling of the nematode community was associated to the combined macrobenthos-environmental temporal development.

This paper identifies and defines ecosystem goods and services provided by marine biodiversity. Case studies have been used to provide an insight into the practical issues associated with the assessment of marine ecosystem goods and services at specific locations. The aim of this research was to validate the definitions of goods and services, and to identify knowledge gaps and likely difficulties of quantifying the goods and services. A validated theoretical framework for the assessment of goods and services is detailed, and examples of the goods and services at a variety of case study areas are documented. These results will enable future assessments of marine ecosystem goods and services. It is concluded that the utilisation of this goods and services approach has the capacity to play a fundamental role in the Ecosystem Approach, by enabling the pressures and demands of society, the economy and the environment to be integrated into environmental management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]