A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted in order to investigate the bioaccumulation of metals and organometals in macrobenthic populations. A complete method coupling a sampling strategy and classification of benthic organisms with a performant analytical procedure for the analysis of both metals and organometals has been developed. A single sample preparation method using a TMAH extracti...

In marine environments, macrofauna living in or on the sediment surface may alter the structure, diversity and function of benthic microbial communities. In particular, microbial nitrogen (N)-cycling processes may be enhanced by the activity of large bioturbating organisms. Here, we study the effect of the burrowing mud shrimp Upogebia deltaura upon temporal variation in the abundance of genes ...

In situ video observations and sediment core samplings were performed at two hadal sites in the Japan Trench on July, 2011, four months after the Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Video recordings documented dense nepheloid layers extending ~30-50 m above the sea bed. At the trench axis, benthic macrofauna was absent and dead organisms along with turbid downslope current were observed. The top 31 cm of se...

Soil macrofauna play major roles in ecosystem functioning; however the ecological effects of macrofauna are influenced by their spatial distribution. Close relationships to soil properties are one major factor for determining spatial pattern of macrofauna. Information about macrofauna distribution pattern is scarce especially at regional scales. The limited numbers of studies available suggest ...

Eutrophication has been an increasing ecological threat during the past 50 yr in many Scandinavian and Baltic marine waters. Large sedimentary areas are seasonally, or more or less permanently, affected by hypoxia and/or anoxia with devastating effects on the benthic macrofauna in, for example, the Baltic Sea, the Belt Seas and Öresund between Denmark and Sweden, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak ...