Benthic non-indigenous species among indigenous species and their habitat preferences in Puck Bay (southern Baltic Sea)**This work was carried out under the ‘Ecosystem Approach to Marine Spatial Planning – Polish Marine Areas and the Natura 2000 Network’ project founded by an EEA grant from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway and partly by research grant BW/G 220-5-0232-9.

AbstractTo date 11 non-indigenous benthic taxa have been reported in Puck Bay (southern Baltic Sea). Five of the 34 taxa forming the soft bottom communities are regarded as non-indigenous to this area. They are Marenzelleria spp., Mya arenaria, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, Gammarus tigrinus and Amphibalanus improvisus. Non-indigenous species comprised up to 33% of the total number of identified macrofaunal taxa (mean 17%). The average proportion of aliens was 6% (max 46%) in the total abundance of macrofauna, and 10% (max 65%) in the biomass. A significant positive relationship was found between the numbers of native and non-indigenous taxa. The number of native taxa was significantly higher on a sea bed covered with vascular plants than on an unvegetated one, but no such relationship was found for their abundance. No significant differences were found in the number and abundance of non-indigenous species between sea beds devoid of vegetation and those covered with vascular plants, Chara spp. or mats of filamentous algae. G. tigrinus preferred a sea bed with vegetation, whereas Marenzelleria spp. decidedly preferred one without vegetation