The North Sea is a shallow and rather young ecosystem formed by the flooding of a landmass some 20 000 years ago. Its coasts and waters are still being colonised by new species from the Atlantic. The strong coupling between benthic and pelagic communities in the shallow parts of the sea makes it...

The Baltic is the largest brackish water system in the world. Its only connection to more open seas are the shallow sounds between Sweden and Denmark. x01x02 The sea is slowly shrinking because of geological uplifting of land after the last glaciation. x01x02 In many respects the Baltic is...

The Arctic Ocean covers a large area with harsh climatic conditions. x01x02 There are strong seasonal and geographical variations in light, temperature and ice cover. x01x02 The European part of the Arctic Ocean covers only about 8 % of the total area of the Arctic Ocean, but due to its great...