Benthic Population Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems
Summary
Benthic population dynamics in coastal ecosystems encompass the patterns and processes that govern the abundance, distribution and interactions of organisms living on or within the seabed. These communities include a diverse array of infaunal and epifaunal species whose life histories are shaped by physical factors—such as sediment composition, hydrodynamic regimes and temperature fluctuations—and by biological interactions including predation, competition and reproductive synchrony. Coastal benthic habitats are highly productive and serve as both nursery grounds for commercially important species and as critical mediators of nutrient cycling. Anthropogenic pressures—fishing, dredging, pollution and coastal development—can alter natural recruitment patterns, modify habitat structure and reduce resilience, often leading to shifts in community composition or declines in key species. Understanding these dynamics requires integrated monitoring, experimental manipulation and modelling approaches that can resolve temporal variability from seasonal to decadal scales and spatial heterogeneity from microhabitats to regional biogeographic gradients. Insights into benthic responses to environmental change are vital for sustainable management, the design of marine protected areas and the prediction of ecosystem service trajectories under future climate scenarios.
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Benthic Population Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in benthic population dynamics in coastal ecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Benthic assemblage: The community of organisms living on or within the seabed substrate in a given area.
Recruitment: The addition of new individuals to a population through juvenile settlement or successful reproduction.
Hydrodynamic model: A computational simulation of water movement used to predict currents, transport and mixing processes.
Bycatch: Non-target species captured incidentally during fishing operations.
Infauna and epifauna: Infauna are organisms living within sediments, whereas epifauna live on the sediment surface.
Resilience: The capacity of a benthic community to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change.
References
- Fluctuations in abundance of the striped venus clam Chamelea gallina in the southern Adriatic Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea): knowledge, gaps and insights for ecosystem-based fishery management. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2024).
- Evaluation and quantification of shell damage and survival of the striped venus clam (Chamelea gallina) harvested by hydraulic dredges. Marine Environmental Research (2023).
- Impact of mechanized clam dredging on the discarded megabenthic fauna on the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean). Marine Biodiversity Records (2021).
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