The seabed of the Southern Bight of the North Sea is mostly composed of sandy soft sediments. Natural hard substrates like pebbles are rare and only occur locally. Lost cargos or shipwrecks lie on the seabed as results of unintentional processes, but because of their inherent structure, they effectively act as artificial reefs deprived of an a priori defined set of functions. On Belgian waters, 231 shipwrecks and other artificial hard structures are dispersed on the continental shelf. Together with the sunken vessels of the neighbouring countries, they create a network of individually isolated hard substrates available for the colonization of the epifauna. The faunal diversity of these shipwrecks has never been studied before. This thesis analyzed the diversity as well as spatial and temporal variation in community structure of ten Belgian shipwreck sites. A total of 224 macrospecies have been identified, with at least 50 species new or rare for the Belgian fauna and Southern North Sea. All shipwrecks are strongly dominated by cnidarians in terms of biomass and by amphipods in terms of abundances. The artificial hard substrate communities isolate strongly from the surrounding soft sediment communities by sharing few species, being dominated by different faunal groups and having a distinct trophic organization. Looking at a cross-shore gradient of sites, three groups of shipwrecks could be determined. Metridium senile, a sea anemone, dominates a species poor community of the coastal sites. Channel water masses influence the offshore sites causing a more stable abiotic environment. The hydrozoan Tubularia indivisa dominates this community. Intermediate sites are also dominated by T. indivisa, but a higher biomass is here observed. It also appears that this T. indivisa is a key species allowing for the settlement of a large set of secondary epibionts. The shipwreck network is further discussed in the context of the regional diversity, dispersal of species and fisheries based applications

Depuis les années 1980, des épaves de grands navires construits à clin de la fin du Moyen-Age ont été découvertes sur les littoraux des mers septentrionales et occidentales. Elles ont régulièrement suscité individuellement un intérêt de la communauté scientifique en regard de leur architecture, puisque la fin du Moyen-Age correspond historiquement à l’apparition puis à la diffusion et à l’adaptation de la construction navale à franc-bord d’origine méditerranéenne en Europe du Nord et de l’Ouest. Pourtant, la comparaison des différentes épaves entre elles pour étudier les développements de la construction navale à clin de cette période est très récente et généralement rattachée à l’analyse des épaves nouvellement trouvées.Cette thèse étudie l’ensemble des navires de plus de 20 m de long susceptibles, par leur architecture, d’avoir évolué en haute mer sur les routes du commerce lointain. En regard du contexte technique et historique, cette étude est limitée géographiquement aux mers nordiques et chronologiquement au Moyen-Age tardif et au début de la période moderne.Le navire résulte à la fois des technique de construction navale et de la demande de ses commanditaires. Durant la période d’étude envisagée dans la thèse, les marchands, qui sont également les affréteurs, constituent les principaux armateurs avec les gens de mer, marins et capitaines, qui régulièrement sont propriétaires en totalité ou en partie des grands bâtiments.De ce fait, le contexte historique, affectant les activités de commerce et de transport, contribue à expliquer les développements de la construction navale. De plus, l’analyse technique des épaves permet de comprendre comment les charpentiers de marine ont pu répondre à la demande de ces propriétaires. Pour cela, la reconstitution des épaves, comme celle de l’Aber Wrac’h 1(France), est essentielle, car les données relatives à la construction, la conception et la forme des navires fournissent des éléments de comparaison scientifique fiables en regard des typologies chronologiques et régionales et permettent de replacer le navire dans son contexte historique et socio-économique. / Since the 1980s, several wrecks of large clinker ships adting from the late Middle Ages were found on the coasts of Northern and Atlantic seas. The scientific community was regularly interested in the architecture of each site as the late Middle Ages historically corresponds to the appearance, dissemination and adaptation of the carvel shipbuilding from the Mediterranean in Northern and Western Europe. Yet the comparison of the different wrecks themselves to study the development of the clinker shipbuilding of this period is recent and usually linked to the analysis of newly found wrecks.This thesis explores all vessels over a length of 20 meters, which were able, according to their architecture, to sail on open seas for long-distance trade. Due to the technical and historical context, this study is limited geographically to the nordic seas and chronologically to the Late Middle Ages and early modern period.The ship results from the shipbuilding technology and the demand of its owners. During the late Middle Ages, the merchant class, which was the principal user, was also the main shipowner with the seafarers, sailors and captains, who regularly owned all or part of large vessels.Therefore, the historical context, affecting trade and transport activities, helps to explain the developments in shipbuilding. Therefore, technical analysis of wrecks allows understanding how the shipwrights and carpenters could meet the demand of those owners. Hence, there construction of the wreck, such as Aber Wrac’h 1 (France), is essential because the data about the building, design and shape of the vessels provide reliable scientific information for comparison in terms of chronological and regional typologies and help to place the ship in its historical, environmental and socio-economic context.