SPATIAL STRUCTURE AND ECOLOGICAL VARIATION OF MEROPLANKTON ON THE BELGIAN-DUTCH COAST OF THE NORTH-SEA

Spatial structure and the spatial autocorrelation of meroplankton comp ositional patterns were investigated by canonical correspondence analy sis (CCA) and complementary Mantel statistics to contribute to the und erstanding of the complex biological fluxes in the coastal waters betw een the Belgian coast and the Scheldt estuary region. The use of covar iables in a partial ordination method allows the partitioning of envir onmental and spatial variation in order to test meroplankton successio nal patterns. The direction and intensity of wind was responsible for a northeasterly transport of larvae. Reverse wind conditions allowed f or a southwesterly larval dispersal. The spatial pattern of the specie s comes from the spatial pattern of the environmental variables, and i s completely explained by them, so that no significant spatial pattern remains in the species data after controlling for the effect of the e nvironmental variables. The spatial structure therefore can be regarde d as an explanatory variable in ecological studies.