Do exceptional winters affect the zoobenthos and fish in shallow, brackish archipelago waters? An example from the northern Baltic Sea

The amplitude of the instantaneous spatial variability of the zoobenthos is so large that it covers the seasonal variation. Temporal data from one station covering 2 successive winters did not show any statistically significant differences in species number, total abundance or biomass, which indicates that the stationary sediment-dwelling zoobenthos is adapted to the environmental variation. For the fish community, however, a regular annual pattern was observed, with temperature (spring to autumn) regulating the activity and distribution of the fish. Each year the area is empty of fish from late autumn to early spring, regardless of winter conditions. The success of recruitment and the food resources of the benthos and fish are chiefly regulated by the environmental conditions during the productive season.