The Wadden Mosaic research continues even in autumn, during strong winds and rain. As the days are getting shorter and the wind stronger, the Wadden Mosaic team is sailing through the western Wadden Sea and checking the cages containing hard substrates. In the western Wadden Sea, these have been installed in the Eijerlandse Gat, the tidal inlet between Texel and Vlieland. Despite the lower temperatures, the research team was able to assess biological growth on the hard substrates in all 42 cages. The remaining 18 cages, in the eastern Wadden Sea, will be visited in two weeks.
Although the full results are not known until after the laboratory analysis, the first visual examinations are already showing promising results. A lot of life has been found, especially on the more complex substrates, such as lumps of wood. For example, in one of these cages the researchers found multiple individuals of the green sea urchin (Psammechinus miliaris): a species that is associated with hard substrates and is not so often observed. Of course, there are also cages on which much less life is found, such as the cages that have been completely sanded in.