In order to log the temporal development of macrozoobenthos populations, three coastal areas of the North Sea and the Wadden Sea near Sylt were sampled at least once a year in autumn. Each area was subdivided into four subunits about 1-2 km apart from each other, and each subunit was sampled by six box cores. These cores were analysed for both macrozoobenthos and the granulometric sediment composition.After six years we started to compare the benthos data with data from larger-scale spatial sampling. It turned out that local sampling sites of a few km² failed to adequately describe population development on a regional scale (tens of km) in most of the species, i.e. spatial extrapolation is not possible in the highly dynamic shallows of the North Sea. As a consequence, this sampling program ceased in 2002 and was replaced by a 9,000 km² sampling grid from 2003 onwards - see doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.870467