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Predation on intertidal mussels

Waser, A.M.

2018

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citation for published version (APA)

Waser, A. M. (2018). Predation on intertidal mussels: Influence of biotic factors on the survival of epibenthic

bivalve beds.

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Acknowledgements

I am pleased that the many hours spent on the mudflats, in the lab and behind a desk have finally resulted in this little ’boekje’! I am grateful to the many people that have supported me during the past years and that have contributed in one way or the other to this thesis.

I am especially grateful to Bruno and Jaap for giving me the opportunity to do this PhD. Thank you both for giving me the freedom to develop my own ideas and research questions. I appreciate all your feedback and guidance that I received all over the years.

Jaap, your statistical knowledge was invaluable over the entire process and I appreciate that I could always walk into your office whenever I had a problem.

Bruno, thank you for introducing me into the world of waders. Thank you for your continu-ous support, even during periods when I almost entirely focussed on the shore crab related work. Also thank you for arranging the job opportunity at Sovon on the impact of the Pacific oyster on the bird populations for me!

I would also like to thank the entire MOSSELWAD team. With special thanks to my fellow PhD colleagues Arno and Jasper for the help both in the field and in the lab. Also thanks to the other PhDs associated to the project Anja and Antonio.

Norbert, thank you for introducing me to the world of mussel beds in the Waddden Sea and taking me on my first fieldwork trip to mussel beds in the eastern Dutch Wadden Sea. During this short trip, you and the other IMARES/WMR colleagues: André, Piet-Wim and Frouke taught me my first lessons of mussel bed research. Since then, I always made sure that I did not have any space left in my boots before going on the mussel beds.

In the course of time, many people became involved in Mosselwad in one way or the other. Thank you to Jeroen, Piet, Johan, Anneke, Sander, Karin, Marc, Erik, Jakkus and Joos for your support and the fruitful discussions.

I am grateful to the advice and support that I received over the years from many people at the department of COS/MEE at the NIOZ.

David, thank you for your advise and the many discussions. What started with chats about various lab or field equipment soon development into more scientifically relevant discussions. One of them, dealing with a conspicuous parasite of shore crabs, ’het Krabbezakje’, even led to a joint publication.

Rob, thank you for your support with the fieldwork - be it sampling the mussel beds or trawling for crabs - and helping me with arranging a Stern-sailing schedule.

Hans, thank you for your help in the field and in the lab. Your support, knowledge and experience was particularly invaluable for the crab related research. I enjoyed the many hours spend in the dinghy together with you in all kinds of weather conditions from very calm to stormy conditions.

Maarten and Niamh thanks to you for helping me out in the field a few times. Niamh thanks that you joined our crab sampling in the eastern Dutch Wadden Sea at very short notice. Maarten, thank you for helping with sampling the mussel beds.

Eelke, I profited substantially from your earlier work. Thank you for your help with the Wadden Sea large-scale data.

Henk, thank you for your overall support and for providing office space during the final stage of my PhD. Also thank you for allowing me to include data from the NIOZ Balgzand high-water programme as well as from the NIOZ-fyke!

Henrike, Sofia and Olga thank you for sharing an office with me in busy as well as in relaxed moments! Special thanks to Henrike for helping me sorting out various things in the beginning

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Acknowledgements

of my PhD period.

During the years, many students supported me and I like to thank them all for their invaluable help in the field and in the lab. Thank you to Sven Matern, Sietze Terpstra, Aaron Hartnell, Romy Loublier, Wouter Splinter, Lotte Meuwissen, Annabelle Dairan, Tom den Otter, Afra Asjes, Robert Twijnstra, Patrick Snoeken, Martijn van der Neut, and Jeroen Venhuizen.

In addition, I would like to thank the students of the NIOZ Marine Masters Summer Course (2010–2013) and of the RUG-NIOZ Marine Biology and Oceanography Course (2013) for their help in catching crabs and sampling the mussel beds. Thanks to Rianne, Suzanne, Willemijn, Philip, Nathalie, Aline, Daisy, Lineke, Marlies, Joachim, Tommy, Roeland, Arthur, Anna, Nele, Eugene, Anouk, Rowan and Gerrie.

I would also like to thank the other (former) employees and students of the department for a good time at the NIOZ: Katja, Theunis, Kees, Allert, Pieternella, Jan v. G., Marcel, Paolo, Jaime, Johan, Anieke, Tjisse, Jan D., Roos, Matthijs, Tamar, Eldar, Julia, Tanya, Jorge, Sjoerd, Piet v. d. H., Piet R., Pascalle, Martin, Kiki, Roeland, Thomas, Jim, Anouk, Lodewijk, Jenni, Sarina, Sander, Sieme, Eva, Emma, Irene, Suzanne, Susanne, Ginny, Simone, Anne, Anita, Job, Lise, Loran, Dennis, Sonja, Gerhard, André, Evaline, Eric, Ingrid, Luc and all others who stayed at NIOZ for a shorter or longer period that I might have forgotten.

Outside our department, I like to thank Ewout for the many trips to the various mussel beds at Balgzand on board of the Stern. Thanks to the crew of the Navicula: Bram, Tony, Hein, Wim-Jan, Klaas-Jan for your support during the shore crab surveys.

I am grateful to the NIOZ for organising in house Dutch classes. The classes taught by Lijntje Pronk helped me to be able to discuss, arrange and organise all work related things in Dutch. Thank you!

I would also like to thank the people from the supporting staff such as Jolanda, Joke, Marjolijn, Marlies, Leonne, Jantien, Meta, Jack, Bert, Nelleke, Hans, Wim, Jan and Roland, Richard for all your help.

I am also grateful from the help of many people from other institutions outside the NIOZ. First of all, thank you to the IMARES/WMR team (Arnold, Erika, Anneke, Ingrid and Cor) for the help with the mussel sampling and the processing of the samples. Special thanks to Anneke and Erika also for helping with the shore crab surveys on board of the Navicula. Thanks to Elze Dijkman for setting up the benthos database of the ’20-banken-programma’ surveys.

Thanks to the Sovon team (Jelle, Symen, Peter, Marc, Kees, Joost and Lieuwe) and to Martin de Jong, Jan de Jong, Joël Haasnoot, and Joop van Eerbeek for counting the birds at mussel beds all over the Dutch Wadden Sea. Thanks to Gerard Troost for developing the Mosselwad online bird count database that made it easy for everyone to enter the data right after counting. Erik van van Winden, thank you for providing me with several different data sets of bird counts for the entire Wadden Sea area.

Also thank you to the crews of the Waddenunit vessels Krukel (Arjen, Bert and Chris) and Harder (Klaas and Freek-Jan). Your support made the mussel sampling and the bird counts in the eastern part of the Wadden Sea possible.

I am grateful to Louis and Eva for giving me the opportunity to work part-time and help with the ballast water tests at the final stage of my PhD period. Thanks to the colleagues at Control Union: Eva, Eveline, Kaspar, Louis, Olga, Szabi, Wesley and Zana for the good times and the welcome diversion from the daily writing routine.

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Acknowledgements

The life on a foreign little island is not always easy. I am grateful to many people that made life on the island enjoyable and for sharing good times and nice moments. Thanks to my former housemates (Anja, Freek and Lodewijk), Tristan, Maram, Kristina, Anouk, Niamh, Sjoerd, Fokje, Michiel, Carola, Santi, Sarina, Marc, Eveline, Alex, Lise, Dennis, Marten, Eva, Jessica, Jenny, Yvonne, Irene and Andres for the shared dinners, bbqs, concerts and parties.

Thanks to team NIOZ 3 (Dennis, Marc, Anouk, Fokje, Marin, Kristina, Jessica) for good times during the volleyball games on almost every Tuesday evening.

Finally, thanks to my friends and family in Germany for all their visits and the support and patience during the years. Ein besonderer Dank gilt meinen Eltern, die mir meinen bisherigen Lebensweg ermöglicht haben. Mama, Danke für alles! Danke dir, Heinz, Alex, Arnd, Timo, Lena und Niels für euer Verständnis und eure Unterstützung während der letzten Jahre.

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Authors affiliations and addresses

Jan Blew

BioConsult SH, Schobüller Straße 36, 25813 Husum, Germany

Peter de Boer

Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, P.O. Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Thomas Bregnballe

Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Kalø, Grenåvej 14, 8410 Rønde, Denmark

Heike Büttger

BioConsult SH, Schobüller Straße 36, 25813 Husum, Germany

Kees (C. J.) Camphuysen

NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Coastal Systems, and Utrecht University, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

Norbert Dankers

Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 57, 1780 AB Den Helder, The Netherlands

Rob Dekker

Symen Deuzeman

Bruno J. Ens

Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, Sovon-Texel, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

Eelke O. Folmer

Young Wadden Academy, Ruiterskwartier 121a, 8911 BS, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

M. Anouk Goedknegt

Klaus Günther

Wadden Sea Conservation Station, Hafenstraße 3, 25813 Husum, Germany

Jarco Havermans

Bernd Hälterlein

Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation, National Park Authority, Schloßgarten 1, 25832 Tönning, Germany

Romke Kleefstra

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Authors affiliations and adresses

Jürgen Ludwig

Federal State Agency for Bird Protection in the Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defense and Nature Conservation Agency, Alte Hafenstraße 2, 21729 Freiburg/Elbe, Germany

Pieternella C. Luttikhuizen

Niamh McSweeney

Jaap van der Meer

VU University Amsterdam, Department of Animal Ecology, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Gerald Millat, deceased 28-4-2017

National Park Authority Wadden Sea Lower Saxony, Virchowstraße 1, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Jelle Postma

Gregor Scheiffarth

National Park Authority Wadden Sea Lower Saxony, Virchowstraße 1, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Wouter Splinter

Marnix van Stralen

MarinX, Elkerzeeseweg 77, 4322 NA Scharendijke, The Netherlands

David W. Thieltges

Karin Troost

Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, PO Box 77, 4400 AB Yerseke, The Netherlands

Estefania Velilla

NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Coastal Systems, and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

Arno K. wa Kangeri

Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 57, 1780 AB Den Helder, The Netherlands

Andreas M. Waser

Erik van Winden

Johannes IJ. Witte

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List of publications

Refereed journals

Waser, A. M., R. Dekker, J. IJ. Witte, N. McSweeney, B. J. Ens, J. van der Meer (2018). Quantifying Tidal Movements of the Shore Crab Carcinus maenas on to Complex Epibenthic Bivalve Habitats. Estuaries and Coasts 41:507–520.

Goedknegt, M. A., J. Havermans, A. M. Waser, P. C. Luttikhuizen, E. Velilla, C. J. Camphuysen, J. van der Meer, D. W. Thieltges (2017). Cross-species comparison of parasite richness, prevalence, and intensity in a native compared to two invasive brachyuran crabs. Aquatic Invasions 12:201–212.

Waser, A. M., S. Deuzeman, A. K. wa Kangeri, E. van Winden, J. Postma, P. de Boer, J. van der Meer,

B. J. Ens (2016). Impact on bird fauna of a non-native oyster expanding into blue mussel beds in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Biological Conservation 202:39-49.

Waser, A. M., M. A. Goedknegt, R. Dekker, N. McSweeney, J. IJ. Witte, J. van der Meer, D. W. Thieltges (2016). Tidal elevation and parasitism: patterns of infection by the rhizocephalan parasite Sacculina carcini in shore crabs Carcinus maenas. Marine Ecology Progress Series 545:215-225.

Waser, A. M., W. Splinter, J. Van der Meer (2015). Indirect effects of invasive species affecting the

population structure of an ecosystem engineer. Ecosphere 6:109.

Submitted manuscripts

Waser, A. M., E. O. Folmer, G. Scheiffarth, H. Büttger, K. Troost, J. Blew, R. Kleefstra, K. Günther, B.

Hälterlein, J. Ludwig, G. Millat, T. Bregnballe, J. Van der Meer, B. J. Ens. Waterbird and habitat distributions in a major coastal wetland: revelation of regional differences in the Wadden Sea.

van der Meer, J., N. Dankers, B. J. Ens, M. van Stralen, K. Troost, A. M. Waser. The birth, growth and death of intertidal soft-sediment bivalve beds: No evidence for ecosystem collapse in the Dutch Wadden Sea.

Non-refereed journals and reports