Marine environmental research
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Nowadays, beach nourishment is widely considered as a better alternative compared to the construction of hard structures to protect a sandy coast against detrimental erosive effects, both from an ecological and an engineering perspective. The rare studies conducted on the ecological impact of beach nourishment are short-term, post hoc monitoring investigations of the benthic macrofauna. Little is known of the biological processes during and after nourishment. ⋯ However, this polychaete is a cosmopolitan species, not only occurring on fine-grained beaches, but also on coarse-grained beaches worldwide. The preferences imply that beach nourishment with coarse sediment will have a major effect on B. pilosa while effects of coarse sediments on S. squamata will be minor. Finally, interspecific competition with the sympatrically occurring amphipod B. sarsi was found to change the sediment selection of the amphipod B. pilosa towards the coarser sediments where B. sarsi occurred in lower frequencies.