Characterizing bedforms in shallow seas as an integrative predictor of seafloor stability and the occurrence of macrozoobenthic species

Description

In soft-bottom marine ecosystems, bedform variation is induced by wind- and tidal-driven hydrodynamics. The resulting megaripples, sand waves and sandbanks form a spatially and temporally heterogeneous seafloor landscape. The strong physical forces imposed by the migration of these bedforms are important determinants for the occurrence of different macrozoobenthic species. Quantifying the effect of these forces can help in differentiating natural- and anthropogenically induced physical stressors. However, large-scale mapping of seabed morphology at high resolution using multibeam echosounder is challenging, costly and time-consuming, especially in shallow seas, prohibiting wide swaths. Instead, their bathymetry is typically studied using singlebeam transects that are interpolated to bathymetric grids with a relatively coarse resolution (20m). However, this leaves out information on smaller scale (

Period	15-Nov-2022
Event title	Coastal ecology workshop
Event type	Conference
Location	Schiermonnikoog, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International