Temporal variations in benthic assemblages and processes

Abstract

Demonstrating changes over time in soft-sediment ecosystems is critical to understanding ecosystem dynamics and predicting how they may change. Monitoring is thus an essential process providing insight into how complex ecological systems change and has important implications in adaptive management, impact assessment and stewardship. The chapter describes how both slow and fast processes operate in soft sediments and drive changes across multiple time scales. The role of time series data in helping to understand detailed short-term studies is discussed. The interactions between space and time have important implications in study design, interpretation and accounting for inconsistency in results. The chapter finishes by discussing two types of temporal change of significant concern these days due to their implications for resilience and ecosystem dynamics: tipping points and hysteresis.