New EMODnet biology data product: Temporal turnover of benthic species in European seas

EMODnet has mobilised significant amounts of data on the spatial distribution of macrobenthic taxa throughout European seas. However, because these communities are not regularly, systematically surveyed at these large spatial scales, understanding how they change through time is challenging. This product builds on the EMODnet macrobenthos presence-absence product, using species-level records and only sampling events where the full macrobenthic community was surveyed to measure temporal turnover in macrobenthic communities. Communities on a 1 degree grid are compared throughout European seas, between six time periods that were determined based on data availability: before 1990, 1990-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014, and 2015 and after. For each grid square and between all time periods for which data are available, the product maps species gain and species loss, as well as beta diversity (including its turnover and nestedness components).