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The ZMT publishes its research results in scientific journals and books, and in conference proceedings. Publications can be found listed here as well as under the respective employees' profiles and requests for copies may be addressed directly via the employees' e-mail.

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Physical Ecosystem Engineers and the Functioning of Estuaries and Coasts
Gutiérrez JL., Jones CG., Byers JE., Arkema KK., Berkenbusch K., Commito JA., Duarte CM., Hacker SD., Lambrinos JG., Hendriks IE., Hogarth PJ., Palomo MG., and Wild C. (2012) In: Wolanski E. and McLusky DS. (eds.) Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, Vol 7, pp. 53–81. Waltham: Academic Press.

Estuarine and coastal ecosystems carry out many important functions such as storm protection and erosion, habitat creation for species, and biogeochemical processing. A great diversity of organisms modify the physical structure of estuarine and coastal environments. To these physical ecosystem engineers belong for example dune and marsh plants, mangroves, seagrasses, reef-forming corals and bivalves. The publication illustrates how these organisms can exert control on sedimentary processes, coastal protection, and habitat availability to other organisms. As human activities in coastal regions and the hinterland have major impacts on all the major groups of coastal and estuarine engineers, we then discuss the management implications of coastal and estuarine engineering.

Deep-sea fish assemblages in the Colombian Caribbean Paramo, J., Wolff, M., Saint-Paul, U. (2012) Fisheries Research 125-126, 87–98

Studies of the species composition, relative abundance and biomass of deep-sea assemblages are needed to create a knowledge base for the assessment of the resource potential and to advise ecosystem-based conservation and fisheries management strategies. This study attempts to create an initial knowledge base of the system by assessing the deep-sea fish assemblages of Colombian Caribbean Sea across a depth range of 200–550 m.

El Niño induced changes to the Bolivar Channel ecosystem (Galapagos): comparing model simulations with historical biomass time series
Wolff M, Ruiz DJ, Taylor M. (2012) MEPS 448:7-22, Open Access

The paper seeks to understand the mechanisms behind observed El Niño induced changes in the Bolivar Channel ecosystem of Galapagos. Observations were compared with model simulations over a 16 year's time period. Results revealed that the largely reduced primary production during an El Niño event cascades through the food web causing a starvation of the system from below, a reduction in system size (in terms of energy flow) by almost 50% and critical reductions in many species populations, including the Galapagos Penguin and Marine Iguanas.

Occurrence of species-rich crab fauna in a human-impacted mangrove forest questions the application of community analysis as an environmental assessment tool
Geist, S. J., Nordhaus, I., & Hinrichs, S. (2012), Estuarine Coastal And Shelf Science, 96(C), 69–80.

The biodiversity of mangrove trees and mangrove crabs is highest in the Indopacific region. Taking a mangrove forest in Java (Segara Anakan Lagoon) as an example, the authors investigated if there is a functional relation between leef-feeding crab and tree species diversity.

Nutritional status and metabolism of the coral Stylophora subseriata along a eutrophication gradient in Spermonde Archipelago (Indonesia)
Y. Sawall, M. C. Teichberg, J. Seemann, M. Litaay, J. Jompa, C. Richter Coral Reefs (2011) 30, 841 – 853.

Coral responses to degrading water quality are highly variable between species and depend on their trophic plasticity and stress resistance. To assess the nutritional status and metabolism of the common scleractinian coral, S. subseriata, in situ experiments were carried out along a eutrophication gradient in Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia. While coastal pollution is always deleterious to the reef ecosystem as a whole, the results show that the effect on corals may not always be negative: S. subseriata may be one of the few examples of corals actually profiting from land-based sources of pollution.

What model suits ecosystem-based fisheries management? A plea for a structured modeling process
Alejandro Espinoza-Tenorio, Matthias Wolff, Marc H. Taylor, Ileana Espejel (2011), Rev. Fish Biol. Fisheries, doi: 10.1007/s11160-011-9224-8
As tools within ecosystem-based fisheries management, a wide range of ecosystem models have been designed to represent ecosystem complexity. The authors classified ecosystem models according to their complexity, and qualitatively evaluated their level of success with regard to five general goals. They recommend to consider a range of models, from rather simple ones with few parameters and scientifically robust outputs, to those which include a large number of ecosystem elements yet at the expense of increased uncertainty.

First recording of kinorhynchs from Java, with the description of a new brackish water species from a mangrove-fringed lagoon
Alexandra Ostmann, Inga Nordhaus, Martin V. Sørensen (2011), Marine Biodiversity, doi 10.1007/s12526-011-0094-z).
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Food preferences of mangrove crabs related to leaf nitrogen compounds in the Segara Anakan Lagoon, Java, Indonesia.
Inga Nordhaus, Tabea Salewski, Tim. C. Jennerjahn (2011). Journal of Sea Research 65, 414-426.
The large amounts of leaf litter produced by tropical mangrove forests serve as a major food source for the benthic fauna. The reasons for the preferential consumption of mangrove leaves by crabs are unclear as yet. We investigated the diet, food preferences and consumption rates of eight dominant crab species in mangroves of the Segara Anakan Lagoon, Java, Indonesia, by means of stomach-content analysis and feeding experiments. Leaves from the five most abundant mangrove tree species were analyzed for organic carbon, total nitrogen, δ13C, δ15N, amino acids and hexosamines. Preferred leaves were characterized by a high amount and/or freshness of nitrogenous compounds and their biochemical composition was significantly different from that of disliked leaves. We infer that the nitrogen compound composition rather than the C/N ratio alone is a determinant for bioavailability of mangrove leaves and hence may partly explain the crabs' food preferences.

Succession patterns in algal turf vegetation on a Caribbean coral reef
Anna Fricke, Mirta Teichberg1, Svenja Beilfuss, Kai Bischof (2011) Botanica Marina 54, 111–126.
Over the past three decades, Caribbean coral reefs have drastically changed in structure and organization due to anthropogenically driven environmental changes. The prognostic trend indicates a shift from coral- to more algal-dominated reefs coupled with a loss in biodiversity and destabilization of reef structure. This study provides insight into the early successional stages of coral reef vegetation by identifying the key species and discussing possible factors determining reef development in relation to environmental change.

Drivers of bacterial diversity dynamics in permeable carbonate and silicate coral reef sands from the Red Sea.
Sandra Schöttner, Barbara Pfitzner, Stefanie Grünke, Mohamed Rasheed, Christian Wild, Alban Ramette (2011) Environmental Microbiology, doi:10.1111/j.1462 - 2920.2011.02494.
Permeable sediments and associated microbial communities play a fundamental role in nutrient recycling within coral reef ecosystems by ensuring high levels of primary production in oligotrophic environments. The sedimentological analyses in a fringing reef of the Gulf of Aqaba suggested that reef sand-associated bacterial communities vary substantially with sand mineralogy. The local co-occurrence of carbonate and silicate sands may thus significantly increase the availability of microbial niches within a single coral reef ecosystem.

Anthropogenic organic contaminants in water, sediments and benthic organisms of the mangrove-fringed Segara Anakan Lagoon, Java, Indonesia.
Dsikowitzky, L.; Nordhaus, I.; Jennerjahn, T.; Khrycheva, P.; Sivatharshan, Y.; Yuwono, E.; Schwarzbauer, J. (2011) Marine Pollution Bulletin, doi: 10.1016/ j.marpolbul.2011.02.023.
The Segara Anakan Lagoon in Indonesia harbors the last large mangrove-fringed ecosystem in Java. It has a high diversity of benthic organisms (such as mussels, crabs and snails) and is increasingly affected by human activities, e.g. by the release of untreated wastewaters from industries and households. Therefore, the ZMT scientists studied the presence of organic contaminants in water, sediments and benthic organisms from the lagoon. It was observed that the organisms stored numerous contaminants in their tissue. Most of these compounds were alkylated PAHs of which the risk potential for the health of aquatic organisms has not been evaluated yet.

Modelling Complex Ecological Dynamics - An Introduction into Ecological Modelling for Students, Teachers & Scientists
Jopp, Fred; Reuter, Hauke; Breckling, Broder (Eds.) (2011), 397 p., Springer Verlag, ISBN: 978-3-642-05028-2.
Model development is of vital importance for understanding and management of ecological processes. Identifying the complex relationships between ecological patterns and processes is a crucial task. This textbook provides a unique overview of modelling approaches. Representing the state-of-the-art in modern ecology, it shows how to construct and work with various different model types.
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Climate change impedes scleractinian corals as primary reef ecosystem engineers
Christian Wild, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Malik S. Naumann et al. (2011) Marine and Freshwater Research 62, 205–215.
A new release about the impact of climate change on coral reefs.
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