Original title: Interacties tussen het benthische en pelagische ecosysteem in ondiepe kustzones en de effecten op de avifauna Parent project: Science for a Sustainable Development Funder identifier: SD/BN/01A; 1042 (Other contract id) Acronym: WESTBANKS Period: December 2006 till January 2011 Status: Completed
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Department of Biology; Systematics and Ecology of Animals Section; Laboratory of Animal Diversity and Systematics, partner
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; Operational Direction Natural Environment; Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models (BMM), more, partner
The research project WestBanks builds on the expertise and knowledge about the structural and functional characteristics of the higher trophic levels (benthos, fish and birds) obtained in the recent years within the ‘Biodiversity-North Sea’ research networks financed by PPS Science Policy, Belgium. WestBanks will focus on the interactions between sediment, water and air at the ecosystem, species and population level. In order to maximize the integration of our results, we target a single area of the Belgian Continental Shelf (BCS), the Western Coastal Banks area which is an important foraging area for seabirds; the area is also an important fishing and nursery ground for flatfish while the sediment in the area harbours a rich macrobenthic community. The structural characteristics of all size classes of the benthos of the area are very well known
The WestBanks proposal is divided over 4 work packages :
Benthic-pelagic coupling,
The role of dispersal for benthic organisms and demersal fish,
Larmuseau, M.H.D. et al. (2009). To see in different seas: spatial variation in the rhodopsin gene of the sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus), in: Larmuseau, M.H.D. Sea (in)sight: from phylogeographical insights to visual local adaptation in marine gobies = (In)zicht op zee: van fylogeografische inzichten naar visuele lokale adaptatie bij mariene grondels. pp. 115-141
Larmuseau, M.H.D. et al. (2009). To see in different seas: spatial variation in the rhodopsin gene of the sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus). Mol. Ecol. 18(20): 4227-4239. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04331.x
Vanaverbeke, J. et al. (2009). Understanding benthic, pelagic and airborne ecosystem interactions in shallow coastal seas. "Westbanks": Final Report Phase 1. Belgian Science Policy: Brussel. 46 pp.
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