SYNOPTIC INTERTIDAL BENTHIC SURVEY
SIBES
ACROSS THE DUTCH WADDEN SEA
The Wadden Sea, recognised as a wetland and heritage site of international importance (Ramsar
status, UNESCO World Heritage Site), covers an area of almost ten thousand square kilometres and
stretches from The Netherlands to Denmark, with a large part of this ecosystem falling within The
Netherlands. Ecosystem services provided by the Wadden Sea to neighbouring coastal areas are
numerous. Economic services include fisheries, and ecological services include essential habitat to
migratory shorebirds that fuel-up in the Wadden Sea prior to flying to the Arctic or Africa.
Map of sampling points across the Dutch Wadden Sea.
The Wadden Sea as seen from space, stretching from Den
Helder to Esbjerg. (source:ESA)
Benthic macrofauna are an integral component of the Wadden Sea ecosystem. Defined as organisms
greater than 1 mm in size, they provide food sources to humans and many animal species, especially
migratory shorebirds. In addition, they are pivotal in keeping the ecosystem functioning, as they
recycle nutrients, decompose organic matter and regulate nutrient cycles. Thus substantial changes
to the macrofauna community could induce changes that cascade through the ecosystem.
A few examples of one of many benthic species sampled are Allita succinea, Hydrobia ulvae, Corrophium volutator and Cerastoderma edule.
To assess whether there are changes in the ecosystem due to land subsidence, a “Synoptic Intertidal
Benthic Survey” (SIBES) has been completed annually across the entire intertidal Dutch Wadden Sea
since 2008. The SIBES survey is comprehensive in the Dutch context and covers an area of 2483 km2
or ~4500 sampling stations.
Each summer, from June to October, a team of 8 scientists and many volunteers go out with NIOZ’s RV Navicula to take benthic samples
The ~4500 samples are then taken back to NIOZ where a team of experts identify and measure both the
various worms and bivalve species encountered during the sampling.
Working on the data in the lab.
Distribution of Scoloplos armiger and Macoma balthica in 2008 and 2009. The distribution of these species, show different habitat
associations, such that Macoma balthica is mainly found in the areas along the coast, where sediments are muddy, whereas Scoloplos
armiger occurs broadly across the tidal flat areas where sediments are more sandy.
SIBES TEAM
Theunis Piersma, Henk van der Veer and Jaap van der Meer (Project leaders)
Tanya Compton (Post Doc), Anita Koolhaas (data manager)
Anne Dekinga, Sander Holthuijsen, Job ten Horn, Maarten Brugge (Field and lab managers)
VOLUNTEERS WANTED
-
Volunteers for field work on the Wadden Sea (summer months)
-
Student projects (HBO and Masters projects)
SIBES is funded by the ZKO Wadden Sea programme for monitoring of the western Wadden Sea and by
NAM for the ecological monitoring of the gas drilling areas in the eastern Wadden Sea.
REFERENCES
PAPERS
Bijleveld AI, van Gils JA, van der Meer J, Dekinga A, Kraan C, van der Veer HW, and Piersma T (In Press)
Designing a benthic monitoring programme with multiple conflicting objectives. Methods in Ecology
and Evolution
REPORTS
Aarts G., Koolhaas A., Dekinga A., Holthuijsen S., ten Horn, J., Smith, J., Brugge, M., Piersma, T. and van der Veer,
H. (2011) Benthic macrofauna in relation to natural gas extraction in the Dutch Wadden Sea, Report
on the 2008 and 2009 sampling program http://wwwstatic.shell.com/static/nam/downloads/pdf/monitoring/sibes_2011.pdf
Aarts G., Koolhaas A., Dekinga A., Holthuijsen S., ten Horn, J., Smith, J., Brugge, M., Piersma, T. and van der Veer,
H. (2010) Benthic macrofauna in relation to natural gas extraction in the Dutch Wadden Sea, Report
on the 2008 sampling program. http://www.waddenacademie.nl/fileadmin/inhoud/pdf/03Thema_s/Ecologie/SIBES_NAM_2010_final_version_webversie.pdf
RELATED PROJECTS
MetaWAD
Waddensleutels