Benthic Invertebrate Community Composition and Sediment Properties in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, 1965−2014

Taghon, Gary L.; Ramey, Patricia A.; Fuller, Charlotte M.; Petrecca, Rosemarie F.; Grassle, J. Frederick; Belton, Thomas J.

doi:10.2112/si78-013.1

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This contrasts with studies examining changes in sediment type overtime that have indicated that grain size tends to remain relatively stable (Taghon et al 2017a;Herder et al 2021). For example, Taghon et al (2017a) found that sediment properties in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, showed few changes in 45 years such that the silt/clay content was similar in 1965-69, 2000-06, and 2012-14. Likewise, a previous long-term study in Frobisher Bay, Nunavut, Canada, found that grain size did not significantly change over a 50-year period (i.e., between 1967-1976 and 2016) (Herder et al 2021). In Placentia Bay, contemporary sediments were ~4.5x coarser as compared to the historical time point.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Hard substrate epifaunal encrusting species (e.g., bryozoans, mussels, and hydrozoans) and highly mobile species (e.g., mysids and decapods) not reliably sampled using a Van Veen grab or box corer were also excluded (Taghon et al 2017a). To take a conservative approach in comparing the historical and contemporary community structure, rare species (species/taxa with <10 individuals across all years and samples) were also removed (Taghon et al 2017a). The taxonomic status of species was checked against the continuously updated list in the World Register of Marine Species (http://www.marinespecies.org/index.php).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Macrofaunal Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only infaunal, soft-sediment macrofauna (organisms >500 µm) were included for community analyses following Gallagher and Grassle (1997) and Taghon et al (2017a). Hard substrate epifaunal encrusting species (e.g., bryozoans, mussels, and hydrozoans) and highly mobile species (e.g., mysids and decapods) not reliably sampled using a Van Veen grab or box corer were also excluded (Taghon et al 2017a). To take a conservative approach in comparing the historical and contemporary community structure, rare species (species/taxa with <10 individuals across all years and samples) were also removed (Taghon et al 2017a).…”

Section: Macrofaunal Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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What has changed in 20 years? Structure and function of soft-sediment macrofauna in a subarctic embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

Komendić,

de Moura Neves,

Ramey-Balci

2023

Preprint

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Understanding how natural and anthropogenic disturbances affect the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems and their associated services is central to predicting future dynamics. Placentia Bay is an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) in the north Atlantic exposed to multiple stressors. To investigate changes in the community and functional structure of soft-sediment macrofauna as well as environmental drivers of observed variation, we compared contemporary (2019–2020) and historical (1998) samples at eight stations (n=77) collected 21 years apart. Although community and functional structure significantly differed between these two time points, functional traits were maintained (i.e., no loss of 36 trait modalities). Thirty-seven percent of species/taxa where only observed in either the historical or contemporary community, and the contemporary community exhibited a lower density of macrofauna but had similar richness, resulting in higher evenness and diversity. Highly tolerant subsurface deposit feeders having small body sizes (<10mm) and direct development dominated the historical community, whereas the contemporary community had nearly equal proportions of surface and subsurface deposit feeders with small to medium body sizes (<10–50 mm) with pelagic larvae, and the proportion of highly tolerant species/taxa was reduced. These changes likely reflect the large reduction in polychaetes (91 vs. 58%) and increased bivalves (4 vs. 25%) relative to the historical time point. Community variation was driven by changes in the sedimentary habitat. Contemporary versus historical sediments were ∼4.5x coarser and had higher levels of sedimentary organic matter. This work contributes to advancing our understanding of relationships between benthic macrofauna, functional traits, and the sedimentary habitat in coastal environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Macrofaunal Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Macrofaunal Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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What has changed in 20 years? Structure and function of soft-sediment macrofauna in a subarctic embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

Komendić,

de Moura Neves,

Ramey-Balci

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These communities are diverse and make up important constituents of soft-bottom marine ecosystems, exhibiting a high adaptability to their habitats [1]. They inhabit a wide range of environments, in which sediment conditions play a key factor in controlling their structure and functioning [2,3]. In addition, macrobenthic communities appear to be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic activities, such as sewage outfalls, oil spills, dredging and trawling [4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of Macrobenthic Invertebrate to Organic Carbon and Particle Size in Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Olapoju

Edokpayi

2018

AJFAR

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Macrobenthic fauna communities are important constituents of soft bottom marine ecosystems which inhabit the bottom environments playing a key factor in controlling structure and functioning of the aquatic environment. Lagos lagoon is the most exposed lagoon to anthropogenic influence in Nigeria coastal lagoon system. Bimonthly sampling was carried out in the Lagos lagoon from September 2014 - July 2016 for water and sediment in twenty – four stations to examine response condition of benthic communities to measures of water quality and sediment quality in Lagos lagoon in order to understand the benthic condition of the aquatic environment. A range of 9 – 91% for sand, 7 – 25% for silt, 0 – 73% for clay while a range of 0 – 4.77 was observed for TOC. The Diversity (H,) richness (d) and evenness (j) were positively correlated with the silt sediment particle size and. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was significant difference (p<0.05) between species richness and diversity at all sampling stations. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in mean percentage particle sizes and TOC recorded at the stations but was significant (p<0.05) between TOC and macrobenthic invertebrates. The overall low diversity of macrobenthic fauna observed was attributed to anthropogenic activities majorly industrial dredging and local sand mining which altered the sediment characteristics of the aquatic ecosystem. Assessments of human induced stressors in the lagoon provided information useful for strict regulations and environmental policies to help prevent the aquatic environment from continuous deterioration hence, causing more loss of biodiversity. Responses of macrobenthic invertebrates to measured variables showed that there are high abundance and diversity of ecological groups of sensitive species majorly distributed around the slightly disturbed zones of the study area. In summary, variables examined in this study showed that the total organic content does not have a depleting effect on the abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates because the values are within permissible limits but the particle size characteristics present in this study showed good environmental indicator for evaluating macrobenthic invertebrate responses to stress pattern in water bodies along the coastal areas surrounded by various human activities.

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Isotopic niche of New Jersey terrapins suggests intraspecific resource partitioning, and little variability following a major hurricane

Denton

Hart

Wnek³

et al. 2023

Hydrobiologia

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Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are sexually dimorphic generalist turtles that inhabit salt marshes and estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. On October 29th, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, USA, directly impacting terrapin populations inhabiting central and southern Barnegat Bay. To examine potential food web mediated impacts to the terrapin population and their foraging dynamics we examined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values collected from terrapin tissues (2011, 2015, 2019) and resource taxa (2015, 2019) within Barnegat Bay. Isotopic analysis revealed that mature females had lower carbon and higher nitrogen values than immature females and males with almost no isotopic niche overlap, whereas males and immature females had statistically similar values with overlapping niches. Terrapins and resources collected from island habitats contained higher carbon and nitrogen values than those from mainland habitats, with little overlap in niche between habitats. There were no significant temporal variations detected in either carbon or nitrogen values from terrapins between years, or within each habitat pre- and post-Hurricane Sandy. These findings suggest long-term terrapin foraging dynamics have remained relatively stable, signifying resilience to disturbance events within the study site.

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Benthic Invertebrate Community Composition and Sediment Properties in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, 1965−2014

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

What has changed in 20 years? Structure and function of soft-sediment macrofauna in a subarctic embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

What has changed in 20 years? Structure and function of soft-sediment macrofauna in a subarctic embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

Response of Macrobenthic Invertebrate to Organic Carbon and Particle Size in Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Isotopic niche of New Jersey terrapins suggests intraspecific resource partitioning, and little variability following a major hurricane

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