The ecology of benthic foraminifera across the Frisian Front, southern North Sea

Benthic foraminifera were collected across the Frisian Front, a biologically enriched transition-zone with high organic matter content below a tidal-mixing front in the southern North Sea. On four occasions between 2002 and 2005, box-cores from different hydrographic regimes (i.e. tidally mixed, frontal and stratified) at depths between 30- and 45-m deep were sampled. The results indicate that standing stocks and foraminiferal diversity are higher in the central zone of the Frisian Front than further away from the frontal zone. Most of the abundant species occupy a specific zone relative to the front’s central position. Elphidium excavatum is abundant at the southern edge of the Frisian Front, where input of labile organic matter is high and physical disturbance (i.e. resuspension of fine-grained material) is relatively frequent. Ammonia tepida and Quinqueloculina spp. dominate at the front’s center where organic carbon input is relatively high. Hopkinsina pacifica has its highest abundances at the deepest, northerly boundary of the front, and Eggerella scabra dominates the deeper, seasonally stratified Oyster Grounds north of the front. Differences in seasonal distribution patterns were minor compared to spatial patterns. Depth distributions varied between summer (more ‘epifaunal’ distribution) and winter (vertically more evenly distributed). The latter suggests that the vertical distribution of foraminifera is governed by the arrival of fresh organic matter at the seafloor in spring and summer. A comparison with foraminiferal abundances across the Frisian Front in 1988/1989 reveals that total abundances and distribution of the most abundant species were similar in both data sets, despite a macrobenthic regime shift at the Frisian Front in the early 1990s. The decoupled dynamics of foraminifera and macrofauna suggests that foraminifera reflect reliably the hydrodynamic environment (stratified, frontal, mixed), despite the changed macrofaunal community and its physical and geochemical consequences.