Abstract
Local abiotic and biotic data are presented from the Groninger Plate (a sandy tidal flat south of Spiekeroog Island) covering a period of one year (February 1996 — February 1997), which includes the coldest part of the ice winter of 1995/96 as well as the winter of 1996/97. The thickness of the visible oxidized layer revealed a clear seasonality. Regarding sandy sediments, values were generally low and ranged between 2.9 cm in winter and 0.9 cm in summer. Biotic and abiotic data are restricted to composition and abundance of meiofauna taxa, total organic carbon, Chl a and phaeopigments as well as temperature and salinity. A significant reduction of meiofaunal abundance, particularly of nematodes, in the top 2 cm was recorded in samples taken in sediments covered by ice, as compared to sediments without an ice cover. However, vertical distribution of meiofauna under ice cover showed that nematodes had migrated to deeper sediment layers. The meiofauna appeared to have overcome the stress of low temperatures and ice formation better than the macrofauna.
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