Benthic quality assessment in a naturally- and human-stressed tropical estuary

Feebarani, J.; Joydas, Thadickal V.; Damodaran, R.; Borja, Ángel

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.005

Cited by 56 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Although AMBI and M-AMBI can readily detect different human pressure (Bigot et al, 2008), they are not considered sensitive enough to natural stresses and strong seasonal change (Borja et al, 2008). Naturally, estuaries are highly stressed communities because the environmental conditions are highly variable (Feebarani et al, 2016). In estuaries, where seasonal changes exist, the values of AMBI and M-AMBI remain unchanged when there is no external modification from human pressures, while in areas affected by human pressure they respond as expected following the description of Pearson and Rosenberg (1978).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…M-AMBI assesses the ecological status of a sampled point through factorial analysis including Shannon's diversity, richness and AMBI. These two indices are effective in the assessment of ecological status of benthic communities over a range of geographical areas from the tropics to high latitudes under different levels of human impact (Borja, Muxika, & Franco, 2003;Afli, Ayaari, & Zaabi, 2008;Borja et al, 2008;Cheung, Lam Wu, & Shin, 2008;Borja & Tunberg, 2011;Sigovini, Keppel, & Tagliapetra, 2013;Spagnolo et al, 2014;Feebarani et al, 2016).…”

Section: Water and Sediment Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the 56 taxa identified in the Caroni Swamp, 27 were not included in the AMBI list. AMBI needs reference conditions to be calculated, however, as there are no pristine conditions present in the Caroni Swamp and there is an absence of historical data, the reference conditions were determined by increasing 15 % upon the highest diversity and richness values of all replicates (Borja & Tunberg, 2011;Feebarani et al, 2016). As for the bad status, the references were based upon the azoic situation (diversity and richness equal to 0 and AMBI equal to 6) (Feebarani et al, 2016).…”

Section: Water and Sediment Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many tropical estuaries are zones of high productivity due to a combination of shallowness and high nutrient input from rivers; the vegetation of the estuaries, particularly mangroves, is a contributing factor to this high productivity (Feebarani, Joydas, Damodaran, & Borja., 2016). Most tropical estuaries in developing countries are under increasing human pressure from rapid population growth, tourism, shipping activities and poor management (Lee, 2008;Lotze, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The effect of seasonal and human pressure on macrobenthic fauna in the Caroni Swamp Ramsar Site, Trinidad and Tobago

Kanhai¹,

Juman²

2018

RBT

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Human pressures have placed many tropical estuaries in developing countries under increased levels of stress. The Caroni Swamp Ramsar Site, the largest mangrove swamp along the west coast of Trinidad, has been subjected to high levels of anthropogenic impacts including hydrological alteration and pollution from land-based sources since the 1920’s. While most of these impacts have been well documented, limited information exists on the macrobenthic communities in the swamp. This study addresses the paucity of information. The macrobenthic fauna in the main waterways of Caroni Swamp was sampled at 12 locations using a Van Veen 0.025m2 grab, once in the dry (April) and wet (August) season of 2015 with a total of 144 samples. The samples were sorted, counted and species were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. A total of 55 taxa were identified with polychaetes being the most abundant taxa. The ecological status of the macrobenthos was assessed using AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and the multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI). Physicochemical parameters were measured with a YSI multiparameter metre. Chemical analyses were also conducted on nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and reactive phosphates using standard methods. Overall, AMBI characterised the Caroni Swamp as “slightly disturbed” with a macrobenthic community of “poor” ecological status according to M-AMBI. Generally, the quality of the environment improves from the dry season to the wet season. However, seasonal variations in AMBI and M-AMBI were found to be site specific as some showed improvement in ecological status and macrozoobenthos quality while others showed degradation from the dry season to the wet season. The stations to the north of the swamp showed improvement from the dry season to the wet season while the opposite was observed in the more southern stations. One notable characteristic of the swamp was the high levels of pollutants, particularly ammonia, recorded in one of its major waterways, the Caroni River. This is in contrast to the other waterways within the swamp which experience much lower levels of pollutant input from land-based sources. The assessment of the Caroni Swamp using AMBI and M-AMBI may be useful for informing management strategies to conserve the wetland and improve environmental quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Water and Sediment Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Water and Sediment Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of seasonal and human pressure on macrobenthic fauna in the Caroni Swamp Ramsar Site, Trinidad and Tobago

Kanhai¹,

Juman²

2018

RBT

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“…Changes in environmental parameters (e.g., salinity, sedimentation and eutrophication) might also play a crucial role in these adverse effects (Broch et al, 2016;Nishijima et al, 2015;Lamptey and Armah, 2008;Yoon et al, 2017;Pereira et al, 2012;Mandal and Harkantra, 2013). Studies have demonstrated that seasonally varying conditions in terms of sediment parameters, such as pH, salinity and flow rate, are significant determiners influencing the distribution of macrobenthic communities in estuaries (Courtney and Clements, 1998;Kilgour et al, 2008;Feebarani et al, 2016;O'Brien and Keough, 2013). However, previous studies have mainly focused on estuaries, lagoons and marine areas (Marques et al, 2013;Romeo et al, 2015;Jordana et al, 2015;Gillett et al, 2015), and the relationships between macrobenthic indicators (structure and diversity) and environments have rarely been investigated in shallow freshwater lowland lakes (Cai et al, 2017;Li et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Environmental Variables on Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in a Shallow Eutrophic Lowland Lake (Ge Lake, China)

Cai

et al. 2019

Tecnol. cienc. agua

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Shallow lowland lakes are critical components of the water cycle, providing an essential service function. However, the impacts of microcystin from phytoplankton communities on benthic macroinvertebrate community diversity and structure have seldom been investigated. During 2008-2012, the impacts of water environmental variables on the diversity of macrobenthic communities, including water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, transparency, conductivity, the

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The Egyptian Nile estuarine habitats: a review

Abdelsalam,

Tadros,

Moneer

et al. 2024

Aquat Sci

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Estuaries are nutrient-rich environments characterized by a gradient in salinity due to the mixing of freshwater and seawater. These bodies of water play vital functions in nature and provide a wide variety of essential ecosystem services. In general, many natural and/or man-made activities have strongly stressed the Egyptian Nile estuarine habitats, as has the water shortage that was expected after the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. In recent decades, the Nile Delta has been considered to be one of the most important productive oil-producing petroleum regions due to onshore and offshore gas discoveries alongside gasoline and base oil generation. Up-to-date systematic reviews of the Egyptian estuarine habitats (Rosetta and Damietta) are missing, and the review reported here was undertaken to fill this gap. In this review, we consider the physical, chemical, geological, pollution, and biological parameters of Egyptian Nile estuaries. In this context, our aim is to contribute to a broader understanding of the Egyptian estuarine habitat; moreover, we provide potential warning signals that may aid in estuarine environmental protection. We found that most of the previous studies had focused on the two branches of the Nile or on the marine waters adjacent to these branches, and that only a few studies focused on the estuarine habitats themselves. In most of these previous studies, the salinity gradient of water was reported to be a significant factor in the distribution of the different measured parameters while, in contrast, more recent investigations confirm the importance of potential effluent sources in affecting the distribution of these parameters. We highly recommend that the data reported here be updated in future studies on different environmental aspects.

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Benthic quality assessment in a naturally- and human-stressed tropical estuary

Cited by 56 publications

References 55 publications

The effect of seasonal and human pressure on macrobenthic fauna in the Caroni Swamp Ramsar Site, Trinidad and Tobago

The effect of seasonal and human pressure on macrobenthic fauna in the Caroni Swamp Ramsar Site, Trinidad and Tobago

Influence of Environmental Variables on Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in a Shallow Eutrophic Lowland Lake (Ge Lake, China)

The Egyptian Nile estuarine habitats: a review

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