We analyzed patterns of species diversity in a compiled data set covering the European coast (from Norway to Crete) that was made available in the framework of the MarBEF European Network of Excellence. The focus was on the distribution patterns of species diversity over large areas across Europe. The objectives of our analysis were two-fold. First, we attempted to separate the effects of species-area relationships from that of species accumulation. Second, we explored the relationship between species diversity and productivity, and compared this to the proposed explaining factors (depth, survey area and latitude). The following conclusions are drawn. (1) Within a given habitat (subtidal soft sediment), the distribution of marine macrofaunal species richness in different areas between 3 and 200 m in average depth throughout Europe is shown to follow general rules derived from observations and experiments mostly based on terrestrial communities; (2) soft-bottom macrofauna accumulate in the subtidal environment (up to 200 m) following the Arrhenius plot model at a rate (˜0.5) corresponding to about a 3-fold increase in the number of species when the sampling area increases by 1 order of magnitude; (3) the distribution of the intrinsic species richness (point species richness) between the selected data sets (subtidal soft sediment) is significantly correlated with the levels of organic flux reaching the sea bottom; and (4) the close relationship between depth and the fraction of surface primary production that reaches the sea bottom is proposed as an explanation for the previously described increase of species richness with depth.
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