Citation: Desprez, M., Bachelet, G., Beukema, J.J., Ducrotoy, J.P., Essink, K., Marchand, J., Michaelis, H., Robineau, B. & Wilson, J.G. 1991 Dynamique des population de Macoma balthica (L.) dans les estuaires du nord-ouest de l'Europe: première synthèse. In M. Elliott & J.P. Ducrotoy (eds), , pp. 159-166. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensberg
Number of Pages: 8
Series Title: Estuaries and coasts: spatial and temporal intercomparisons. ECSA19 Symposium, Caen, September 1989
Keywords: Ecology, Europe, France, Germany, Marine, Marine Inlet, Mollusca, Netherlands, Population
Abstract: Intertidal populations of the bivalve Macoma balthica have been studied simultaneously within the COST 647 framework (EEC) in several European sites located between 45 degrees 35'N and 53 degrees 40'N. Spatial and temporal surveys showed the influence of a number of environmental factors (temperature, granulometry, emersion time, chlorophyll-a content of the water) on the population dynamics of this species, mainly through recruitment processes. The between-sites comparison also showed a change with latitude in the relative importance of abiotic factors, such as temperature, and of biotic ones such as competition. The former appear to be more important in the northern sites (Wadden Sea) and the latter can obscure completely the real impact of abiotic factors in the southern sites (Gironde). In the bay of Somme, the population dynamics of M. balthica are similar to the dynamics observed either in cold years in northern sites or in mild years in southern sites.