Comparison between tidal basins in the Wadden Sea: Impact of human activity on benthos
van Drimmelen, C. (2017). Comparison between tidal basins in the Wadden Sea: Impact of human activity on benthos. Thesis. NIOZ Royal Institute for Sea Research: Texel. 16 pp.
This study focused on the effects of human activity defined by ecological difference of benthos between Schild and other tidal basins in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Schild is closed for all human activity while other tidal basins are intensively exploited. Previous studies show contradictory results about the damage human activity causes to the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea. One way to research this is by determining benthos species and their biomass between Schild and the remaining tidal basins. This study used the method used for the sublittoral 'Synoptic Intertidal Benthic Survey' (SIBES) project from NIOZ. The samples points used are based on similar abiotic values of Schild sample points. The data was statistically tested on ash-free dry mass and number of species. The effects of human activity defined by ecological differences between Schild and other tidal basins did not show. While there was a difference in species and number per species, there was no significance between the points of Schild and the other tidal basins in the Dutch Wadden Sea. There was a slight difference between the chosen point groups. These results correspond to other studies that the effect of human activity is negligible. It should also be kept in mind that Schild is a dynamic area with a lot of shallow trenches. While we did not find a significant effect of human activities on the ecological differences there are some contradictory results. Therefore, it is advisable to expand the research are of Schild and to monitor for a longer period of time.
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