Quantifying habitat modifying eVects

Abstract The positive eVects of the tube dwelling poly-chaete Lanice conchilega for the associated benthic com-munity emphasizes this bio-engineer’s habitat structuring capacity (Rabaut et al. in Estuar Coastal Shelf Sci, 2007). Therefore, L. conchilega aggregations are often referred to as reefs. The reef building capacity of ecosystem engineers is important for marine management as the recognition as reef builder will increase the protected status the concerned species. To classify as reefs however, bio-engineering activities need to signiWcantly alter several habitat charac-teristics: elevation, sediment consolidation, spatial extent, patchiness, reef builder density, biodiversity, community structure, longevity and stability [guidelines to apply the EU reef-deWnition by Hendrick and Foster-Smith (J Mar Biol Assoc UK 86:665–677, 2006)]. This study investigate