Jürgen Laudien

Jürgen Laudien	Assistant Coordinator, Principal Scientist	WP1, WP4

Institute	Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research

Email:	jlaudien@awi-bremerhaven.de

Address:	Am Handelshafen 12 27515 Bremerhaven, Germany

Telephone: Fax:	+49(471)4831 1315 +49(471)4831 1918

Responsibilities

	Supervision of Ph.D. students
	Member of coordination committee
	Principal scientist WP1

Research Interest

	Population dynamics of bivalves
	Population genetics
	Succession of macrobenthic communities
	Ecology of upwelling areas

Abstract

The overall objective of our work is to understand how EN induced changes affect the structure and dynamics of Chilean-Peruvian intertidal and subtidal benthic communities. To this end, information on historical studies of communities (species composition, abundance, diversity, biomass, zonation) and selected biological features (growth, reproduction, recruitment, feeding) has and will continuously be retrieved followed by integrative analyses and interpretation. Studying biological mechanisms will fill gaps in our understanding. In this frame I am focusing on surf clams like M. donacium and D. marincovichi. Recent work shows that dense filter-feeding populations like surf clams may regulate plankton production in littoral systems, however their role in pelagic production is poorly understood. No information is available on these interactions following fluctuation of ENSO under which the plankton community changes significantly. Therefore, we will study interactions between individuals and the surrounding pelagic community using innovative semi-closed recirculation systems. Donax species from the Chilean and Peruvian coast species show strong morphological variability that often generates discussion on the validity of the species identity. Thus, we will perform a genetic analysis to relate the phenotypic differences to genetic variability. Additional experiments will favour aquaculture of species (e.g. growth and nutrition experiments with Donax and Mesodesma). To relate settlement success to environmental parameters experiments will be carried out using various settlement substrata (i.e., panels, soft sediment boxes) deployed at intertidal and subtidal habitats. Habitats will be modified and the community change monitored.

I was mainly involved in compiling the CENSOR proposal. As ‘Assistant Coordinator’ I am member of the ‘Steering Committee’. Besides supervision of Ph.D. students (Aldo Pacheco, Daniel Carstensen, Jose Riascos, Mario Villegas, Marko Herrmann) I am one of the principal scientists responsible for the work package ‘Coastal benthic communities’.

Keywords

population dynamics of marine invertebrates, community studies, filter-feeders, succession, recolonisation, surf clams, Mesodesma donacium, Donax marincovichi