Regime shifts are rapid reorganizations of ecosystems from one relatively stable state to another. Because the system state after the regime shift can be functionally different from that before the shift the occurrence of such shifts has considerable implications for the management of the marine environment and the provision of ecosystem services, particularly fisheries. Regime shifts can have a number of causes. Probably the best well studied are those caused by climatic oscillations which often occur on (very) large scales. Additionally, ecosystem state shifts can also occur on much smaller scales e.g. as the result of eutrophication, change in resource availability, overfishing or the introduction of alien species. Regime shifts driven by climate change and anthropogenic disturbances have been reported from many geographical areas for diverse groups of marine organisms such as fish, phyto- and zooplankton. However, our knowledge of whether such regime shifts also occur in marine benthic soft-sediment ecosystem is far less detailed.
Through analysis of historic time series from different locations, this internship work will reveal insights in the stability of benthic communities in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) and identify the role of climatic oscillations and/or historic and ongoing anthropogenic activities (e.g. fisheries, sand extraction and dumping of dredge materials) for community change. Such knowledge is currently lacking and these insights will assist in the management of coastal ecosystems in the current Anthropocene era.
Potential topics include (1) a large-scale study of the distribution patterns of communities in the BPNS between 1970-1976 (i.e. the oldest sample series present for the area); (2) the analysis of long-term (1970-2015) benthic community change at selected stations of known anthropogenic pressure; and (3) the analysis of community biotic properties as early warning indicators of community change.
