Publication Abstract

Impacts of trawling disturbance on the diversity, biomass and structure of meiofauna assemblages

M. Schratzberger, T. A. Dinmore, S. Jennings

Trawling disturbance reduces the biomass and production of macro-infaunal invertebrate communities, implying that their total food consumption rate will fall, and that production (carbon) reaching the seafloor will be processed by other animals that can withstand the effects of trawling. Meiofauna may be resilient to trawling because they are likely to be resuspended rather than killed by trawls and because their short generation times would allow them to tolerate elevated mortality. We used a BACI experimental approach to investigate the short-term effects of beam trawling on the diversity, biomass and community structure of meiofauna on real fishing grounds in the Southern North Sea. Experiments at two locations both showed that there were no short to medium-term (1 to 392 days after experimental trawling) trawling impacts on meiofaunal diversity or biomass, but that there were mild effects on community structure. Any impacts due to trawling were minor in relation to seasonal changes in the meiofaunal communities. We assessed the power of our experiments to detect the effects of trawling, and our experiments had a 44 to 85 % chance of detecting a 50% change in species richness and a 65 % chance of detecting an order of magnitude change in biomass. The power to detect changes in total abundance, however, was low (between 11 and 12 % power for detecting a change of 50 %). We suggest that meiofauna are more resilient to beam trawling disturbance than macrofauna and that they have the potential to withstand the effects of chronic trawling disturbance on real fishing grounds, and to retain a key role in energy cycling.

Reference:

M. Schratzberger, T. A. Dinmore, S. Jennings, 2002. Impacts of trawling disturbance on the diversity, biomass and structure of meiofauna assemblages. Marine Biology, 140(1): 83-94.