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Meiofauna and macrofauna decouple in two benthic habitats of the Baltic Sea

We explored meiofauna and macrofauna in shallow muddy and sandy habitats of two spatially separated marine protected areas, Fehmarn Belt (FB) and Odra Bank (OB), in the German Baltic Sea. Diversity, density, and biomass of both size compartments were quantified alongside sediment characteristics, hydrographic conditions, and bottom-trawling pressure as potential community drivers. Pronounced regional contrasts emerged. Meiofauna was markedly more abundant and diverse in FB (4395 ind./10 cm 2 ; Shannon diversity H’ = 0.91±0.09) than in OB (851 ind./10 cm 2 ; H’ = 0.45±0.06). The number of major meiofauna taxa in FB was 16, in OB 18. Macrofauna species richness was 85 in FB ( H’ = 1.41±0.11) and 31 in OB ( H’ = 1.02±0.03). However, macrofauna …

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