Spatial and temporal variability of North Sea mega-epibenthos assessed by seabed photography.

Spatial and temporal variability of mega-epibenthic assemblages (including invertebrates and demersal fish) of the German Bight were investigated at different spatial and temporal scales using seabed photography.A methodological comparison between seabed photography (UWP) and parallely taken beam trawl (BT) data showed that dominance patterns recorded by the two methods were similar. Abundances recorded by UWP were generally higher than those yielded by beam trawls, while taxa numbers were lower by UWP than by BT.For spatial and temporal variability of mega-epibenthic assemblages and taxa, seabed photographs were analysed for abundances and distribution patterns of solitary mega-epibenthic organisms and occurrences of biotope features. Correlations of taxa and assemblage distribution patterns with environmental factors were found at the different spatial and temporal scales.It was shown that UWP data contribute to the knowledge on ecology of the mega-epibenthos of the German Bight.