Transcript TISBE: Taxonomic Information System for the Belgian

The ICES North Sea Benthos Project:
Objectives and Data Management
1,
2,
3
Hubert Rees Eike Rachor Edward Vanden Berghe
1 CEFAS, Burnham Laboratory; 2 AWI; 3 VLIZ
The ICES Study Group on the North Sea Benthos Project 2000 (an offshoot of the ICES Benthos
Ecology Working Group) is integrating recent macrobenthic infaunal data (1999-2001) available from
various sources, including national monitoring surveys. The main goal is an overall comparison with the
ICES North Sea Benthos Survey data of 1986 (see Künitzer et al., 1992), in order to determine whether
there have been any significant changes and, if so, what may be the causal influences (e.g., climate
change, fishing impacts). The work will contribute valuable information on several other topics such as
habitat classification and the distribution of sensitive and opportunistic species.
In addition to physico-chemical measurements of sediment samples alongside the benthic fauna,
information on water depths, temperature, water quality and salinity will be incorporated in the analysis of
species and community distributions. Also, we will use existing ecological and hydrographical models for
currents, bottom shear stress and carbon input, along with information on the distribution of habitat types,
to explain the observed distribution patterns.
Data received from the project participants were uploaded into a central database. The database itself is
an MS SQL server database, with a front-end developed in MS Access. For the taxonomy/species lists,
no separate database was developed, but the ‘Aphia’, existing species register at the Flanders Marine
Institute (VLIZ) was used. The structure for the taxonomic information was adapted from the structure of
the ITIS database. The taxonomic hierarchy is implemented as an open-ended hierarchy, where every
taxonomic name or name part is stored in a single record, together with a pointer to a ‘parent’ record.
Rather than linking the distribution records directly to Aphia, intermediate tables were used, allowing
conservation of the original names, and control over the degree of lumping of doubtful taxa in a single
entity for purposes of analysis.
Positions of the sampling
locations. Colours correspond to
different sources of data. Open
circles represent the 1986 NSBS
stations
Example output from the system
Brittle star Acrocnida
brachiata, 1986 (red)
vs 2000 (green)
densities
Sea urchin
Echinocardium
cordatum, 1986 (red)
vs 2000 (green)
densities
Same as map to the
left, but including
stations where E.
cordatum was not
found
People involved
Results of Twinspan
analysis; colour reflects
cluster membership
(infaunal assemblages)
Some statistics
The combined dataset of 2000 records consists of 58362 distribution records,
belonging to 1861 taxa, of which 1712 are currently considered valid. There were a
total of 1401 stations, and 2509 samples. For the 1986 survey, there were 11,820
distribution records, 709 taxa, 701 valid taxa, 231 stations and 281 samples. The
number of stations and distribution records in each of the 2000 data sets is listed in
the table below.
Contact
Cochrane
Degraer
Van Dalfsen
Desroy
Duineveld
Dewarumez
Hillewaert
Nehring
Newell
Oug
Rachor
Rees
Robertson
Rumohr
Country
Norway (open sea)
Belgium
Doggerbank
France (coastal)
Netherlands
France (Channel)
Belgium
Germany
UK (Channel)
Norway (coastal)
Germany
UK (North Sea)
UK (Scotland)
Germany
Stations
37
256
12
93
100
15
8
10
567
12
181
53
38
19
Distribution records
3784
4057
566
789
4663
965
203
286
24357
1918
6971
4096
4681
1026
Cochrane, S.: Akvaplan-NIVA, Polar Environmental Centre, N-9296
Tromsø, Norway [[email protected]];
Craeymeersch, J.: RIVO, PO Box 77, Nl-4400 AB Yerseke
[[email protected]];
de Kluijver, M.: ISP.ETI, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 49766, NL1090 GT Amsterdam [[email protected]];
Degraer, S.: University of Gent, Krijgslaan 281/S8, B-9000 Gent
[[email protected]];
Desroy, N.: Station Marine de Wimereux, 28, Avenue Foch, B.P. 80,
62930 Wimereux, France [[email protected]];
Dewarumez, J. M.: Station Marine de Wimereux, 28, Avenue Foch, B.P.
80, 62930 Wimereux, France [[email protected]];
Duineveld, G.: NIOZ, PO Box 59, Nl-1970 AB Den Burg-Texel
[[email protected]];
Eggleton, J.: CEFAS, Burnham Laboratory, Burnham-on-Crouch,
Essex CMO 8HA, UK [[email protected]];
Essink, K.: Rijkswaterstaat/RIKZ, PO Box 207, 9750 AE Haren, The
Netherlands;
Hillewaert, H.: Sea Fisheries Department, Ankerstraat 1, B-8400
Oostende [[email protected]];
Kröncke, I.: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Schleusenstrasse 39a,
D-26382 Wilhelmshaven [[email protected]];
Lavaleye, M. S. S.: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research,
Postbox 59, 1790AB Den Burg [[email protected]];
Nehmer, P.: AWI, PO Box, D-27515 Bremerhaven [[email protected]];
Newell, R.: Marine Ecological Surveys Ltd., 24a, Monmouth Place,
Bath BA1 2AY, UK [[email protected]] ;
Oug, E.: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Branch Office South,
Televeien 3, N-4879 Grimstad Norway [[email protected]];
Rachor, E.: AWI, PO Box, D-27515 Bremerhaven [[email protected]];
Rees, H.: CEFAS, Burnham Laboratory, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
CMO 8HA, UK [[email protected]];
Reiß, H.: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Schleusenstrasse 39a, D26382 Wilhelmshaven [[email protected]];
Robertson, M.: FRS Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101, Aberdeen, UK
AB11 9DB [[email protected]];
Smith, R.: CEFAS, Burnham Laboratory, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
CMO 8HA, UK [[email protected]];
Van Hoey, G.: University of Gent, Krijgslaan 281/S8, B-9000 Gent
[[email protected]];
Vanden Berghe, E.: VLIZ, Vismijn, Pakhuizen 45-52, B-8400, Oostende
[[email protected]].