Phase-related patterns of tidal sand waves and benthic organisms: field observations and idealised modelling

Observations from the field show that the spatial distribution of benthic organisms is strongly correlated to the morphological structure of tidal sand waves. In particular the troughs of sand waves are typified by a large benthic community, in contrast to the crest. In this paper, we present an idealised process-based model to study these patterns of biota and sand waves. Our model results agree with the observations that these phase-related patterns can arise on the seabed. Moreover, we show that local topography disturbances may lead to spatial patterns of both sand waves and biomass.