Response of benthic communities to trawling cessation in the German Bight (North Sea, 2003-2004)@en

Makrozoobenthos of soft-bottom benthic communiy was collected by van-Veen grabs and beam trawls to sample the infauna and epifauna. Samples were collected between 2003 and 2004 in spring, summer and autumn each year. Benthic data were collected in the North Sea, German Bight off the East Frisian Coast. Benthic community was evaluated for potential changes after cessation of bottom trawling. In July 2003, the research platform FINO 1 was built as a pilot project for future offshore wind farms. The platform is located at 28 m water depth in the German Bight, 45 km off the Island Borkum. The surroundings of the platform (500 m radius) are closed for all shipping activities (except scientific activities) and are thus protected from trawling activities. Two zones beyond the 500 m radius, 9 km apart from the protected area in north-western and eastern direction were chosen as reference sites. Sampling follwed a BACI-design (before-after-control-impact), i.e. comparing the protected area to the further trawled areas. In both areas, protected and trawled area, sampling of the benthic community was carried out with “RV Heincke” during 2 periods. The first sampling period, defined as “pre-closure”, includes two sampling campaigns: one campaign 3 months before and one campaign 2 weeks after fishery closure of protected area (March/April and July/August 2003). “Post-closure” sampling was also carried out in two campaigns: one campaign in July/August and one campaign in September/October 2004, i.e. 12-14 months after fishery closure of protected area. Data for each campaign comprise different stations in the area, sampled by grab samples (infauna) and beam trawl samples (epifauna). Biodiversity data of species include abundance (count data) and biomass (wet mass, g) per sample, as well as sediment grain sizes, organic carbon, total carbon, nitrogen and sulfur content as accompanying environmental data.本数据集针对软底底栖群落的大型底栖无脊椎动物（macrozoobenthos）开展采样，采用范维恩采泥器（van-Veen grabs）与桁杆拖网（beam trawls）分别采集底内动物（infauna）与底上动物（epifauna）。样本采集于2003至2004年的每年春季、夏季与秋季，采样海域为北海德国湾东弗里西亚海岸外海域。本研究旨在评估底拖网作业停止后底栖群落的潜在变化。2003年7月，作为未来海上风电场的试点项目，研究平台FINO 1（FINO 1）建成。该平台位于德国湾水深28米处，距博尔库姆岛45公里。平台周边500米半径范围内禁止所有航运活动（科研活动除外），因此免受拖网作业干扰。在该保护区500米半径外，分别选取西北与东方向、距保护区9公里的两个区域作为对照样点。采样采用BACI设计（Before-After-Control-Impact设计，即前后-对照-影响设计），即对比保护区与仍受拖网作业影响的区域。研究均通过海因克号研究船（RV Heincke）在两个阶段完成底栖群落采样：第一阶段为"关闭前"采样，包含两次采样活动，分别为保护区实施渔业关闭前3个月与关闭后2周，即2003年3-4月与7-8月；第二阶段为"关闭后"采样，同样包含两次采样活动，分别为2004年7-8月与9-10月，即保护区渔业关闭后12至14个月。各次采样活动的数据涵盖区域内不同站位的样本，其中底内动物样本由采泥器采集，底上动物样本由桁杆拖网采集。物种生物多样性数据包含每样本的丰度（计数数据）与生物量（湿重，单位g），同时附带沉积物粒度、有机碳、总碳、氮及硫含量等环境配套数据。