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Cited by 23Marine Biology and Ecology ResearchMarine Ecology and Invasive SpeciesMarine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

A Mega-Nourishment (Sand Motor) Affects Landscape Diversity of Subtidal Benthic Fauna

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Herman, Peter M. J., Moons, J. J. Simeon, Wijsman, Jeroen W. M., Luijendijk, Arjen P., Ysebaert, Tom·2021·Frontiers in Marine Science
DOI 10.3389/fmars.2021.643674
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Abstract

The Sand Motor is a very large (20 million m 3) nourishment constructed along the coast in The Netherlands. The huge volume of sand is redistributed along the coast by natural forces stemming from tidal currents and waves. For environmental evaluation of this large construction, the benthic subtidal fauna has been sampled prior to the construction of the Sand Motor, and at 1, 2, 4, and 6 years after construction. Although some significant differences between years were detected, overall the total density, total biomass and average number of species per sample were surprisingly constant over this time period. However, large differences were found in the species accumulation curves over samples, and in the rank-biomass and rank-abundance plots. These were related to two important trends in the communities. First, the invasive mollusk Ensis leei, the biomass dominant in the years before construction of the Sand Motor, dwindled in importance in later years. Recruitment of the species failed, but it is unclear whether, and how, this is related to the construction of the Sand Motor. Second, the correlation structure between depth, grain size, bottom shear stress due to waves and currents, which is very tight along a linear coast, was disrupted by the Sand Motor. The community composition was shown to depend strongly on these physical factors. The nature of the dependencies did not change, but the range of different combinations of factors after construction of the Sand Motor was widely larger than before. Although samples had similar number of species per sample before and after construction, the average difference between samples after construction was much larger than before. The Sand Motor is a very large construction, leading to loss of a substantial area (order 100 ha) of submarine area, which recovers at a long time scale. Total disturbance of benthos by burial, expressed as area∗(time before full recovery) was shown to be similar for the Sand Motor and for other coastal nourishment schemes when expressed per unit volume of sediment applied. However, in contrast to beach and shoreface nourishments, the Sand Motor led to a habitat diversification in the coastal zone.

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  • During the last decade since the construction of the first SAS, several research groups have studied various physical, ecological, and socioeconomic aspects of SAS.

    “During the last decade since the construction of the first SAS, several research groups have studied various physical (Poppema et al., 2022;Pourteimouri et al., 2021;Hoonhout and de Vries, 2017;De Bakker et al., 2016;Huisman et al., 2016;Van der Weerd and Wijnberg, 2016), ecological (Herman et al., 2021;Van Egmond et al., 2018;Cohen et al., 2010), and socioeconomic (Wienhoven et al., 2021;Aukes et”

    From Towards integrated management of sandy anthropogenic shores: Developing tools for the exploration of human-natural interactions (2025) · cites this paper as Herman et al., 2021

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Authors
Herman, P. M. J., Moons, J. J. S., Wijsman, J. W. M., Luijendijk, A. P., & Ysebaert, T.
Affiliations
  • Deltares (NL)
  • Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (NL)
  • Wageningen Marine Research (NL)
  • Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NL)
Corresponding author
Herman, Peter M. J.
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Marine Science
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2021-05-24
Volume
8
ISSN
2296-7745 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fmars.2021.643674
OpenAlex
W3164650192
Cited by
23
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4
FWCI
2.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Marine Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • NIOZ Publications (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Flanders Marine Institute (Flanders Marine Institute) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
  • Rijkswaterstaat
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine Biology and Ecology Research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine Ecology and Invasive Species
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies
Keywords
Sand Motor, coastal nourishment, species diversity, invasive mollusks, recruitment failure, habitat heterogeneity, grain size, bed shear stress, depth, benthic community composition, benthic disturbance, habitat recovery, coastal engineering impacts

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