Relating Benthic Infaunal Community Structure to Environmental Variables in Estuaries Using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling and Similarity Analysis

McRae, Gil; Camp, David K.; Lyons, W. G.; Dix, T.L.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4976-1_18

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The percentage of the fine fraction, rather than the total hydrocarbon concentration, explained the faunistic changes recorded in sites around the Ecofisk oil field (Gray et al 1990). In a survey of Florida estuaries, three of the four sites with reduced benthic community species diversity exhibited the highest contents of silt-clay and organic carbon (OC) in the sediments (McRae et al 1998). In the present study, the observed decrease in H' as CPI increased could not be explained on the basis of sediment granulometry or organic content (see Electronic supplementary material Table 5 and Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Linking chemical contamination to biological effects in coastal pollution monitoring

et al. 2011

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To establish the connection between pollutant levels and their harmful effects on living resources, coastal monitoring programmes have incorporated biological tools, such as the scope for growth (SFG) in marine mussels and benthic macrofauna community indices. Although the relation between oxygen-depleting anthropogenic inputs and the alteration of benthic communities is well described, the effects of chemical pollutants are unknown because they are not expected to favour any particular taxa. In this study, the combined efforts of five research teams involved in the investigative monitoring of marine pollution allowed the generation of a multiyear data set for Ría de Vigo (NW Iberian Peninsula). Multivariate analysis of these data allowed the identification of the chemical-matrix combinations responsible for most of the variability among sites and the construction of a chemical pollution index (CPI) that significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with biological effects at both the individual and the community levels. We report a consistent reduction in the physiological fitness of local populations of mussels as chemical pollution increases. The energy balance was more sensitive to pollution than individual physiological rates, but the reduction in the SFG was primarily due to significantly decreased clearance rates. We also found a decrease in benthic macrofauna diversity as chemical pollution increases. This diversity reduction resulted not from altered evenness, as the classic paradigm might suggest, but from a loss of species richness.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Linking chemical contamination to biological effects in coastal pollution monitoring

et al. 2011

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“…Similarly, stations were also classified by sediment type as sand (< 20% silt–clay content), mixed (20–80% silt–clay), or mud (> 80% silt–clay). Overlaying classifications of salinity, sediment or depth values can be used to visualize which environmental factors are best associated with the grouping of stations determined by the dissimilarity coefficients ( McRae et al ., 1998 ). The BIO‐ENV procedure in PRIMER ® was used to confirm the relationships between the benthic ordination and the environmental variables by comparing the ranked similarities between the benthic ordination and the abiotic ordination ( Clarke & Ainsworth, 1993).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal gradients in benthic community composition in Western Atlantic estuaries

Engle

Summers

1999

Journal of Biogeography

124

122

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Summary AimThe community composition of benthic macroinvertebrates from 295 estuarine sites was examined in order to either confirm or challenge established boundaries of zoogeographical provinces. We also investigated the postulate that, while local distributions were determined by natural habitat characteristics such as salinity, sediment type and depth, distributions on a large geographical scale would be correlated with temperature. LocationThe Atlantic coast of the United States (on a latitudinal gradient from 42° to 25°N). MethodsUsing the descriptive techniques of cluster analysis and nonmetric multi‐dimensional scaling, we determined the similarities in benthic community composition between sites within 1° latitudinal bands and compared the biotic ordinations to natural habitat characteristics such as salinity, sediment type and depth. We then evaluated the overall community composition within each 1° latitudinal band and established whether or not similarities existed between adjacent 1° latitudinal bands. In this manner, we were able to confirm that a latitudinal gradient existed in estuarine benthic community composition along the western Atlantic coast. This latitudinal gradient was demarcated by biogeographical boundaries at (1) Biscayne Bay, Florida, (2) the southern end of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, (3) St John's River, Florida, (4) Cape Island, South Carolina, (5) the mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina and (6) Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with a subprovince boundary just north of Cape May at Wildwood, New Jersey. ResultsThe major divisions approximated widely recognized biogeographical boundaries. Average summer water temperatures correlated better than sediment type, depth, or salinity with the latitudinal groupings of sites determined by cluster analysis. ConclusionsBased on this relationship, we speculate on the potential impacts of current global climate change scenarios on the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates along the western Atlantic coast.

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“…The strong association between size of silt/clay fraction and benthic community is well known and established (e.g. Engle & Summers, 1998;McRae, Camp, Lyons, & Dix, 1998;Borja et al, 2000). Gravel percentages are not only correlated with FF but also have large relative standard deviations in each biotope type (see Table 2).…”

Section: Index Calculation and Validationmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Associations between organic matter and benthic communities are largely reported (e.g. Bakri & Kittaneh, 1998;McRae et al, 1998). Snelgrove and Butman (1994) suggested that the amount of hydrodynamic energy and available organic material are more likely to be the primary driving forces, with depth and sediment grain size as secondary correlates.…”

Section: Index Calculation and Validationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Benthic biotope index for classifying habitats in the sado estuary: Portugal

Caeiro¹,

Costa

Goovaerts

et al. 2005

Marine Environmental Research

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An integration of sediment physical, chemical, biological, and toxicity data is necessary for a meaningful interpretation of the complex sediment conditions in the marine environment. Assessment of benthic community is a vital component for that interpretation, yet their evaluation is complex and requires a large expenditure of time and funds. Thus, there is a need for new tools that are less expensive and more understandable for managers. This paper presents a benthic biotope index to predict from physical and chemical variables the occurrence of macrobenthic habitats. Parameters such as sediment type, organic matter, depth, and hydrodynamic parameters were selected, through a discriminant analysis, to compute the index. Other authors have used multivariate methods to determine the benthic biotopes for Sado Estuary. The index proved to be a valid tool to classify and assess the spatial patterns of benthic habitat and to synthesize stress biotope gradients.

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Relating Benthic Infaunal Community Structure to Environmental Variables in Estuaries Using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling and Similarity Analysis

Cited by 17 publications

References 11 publications

Linking chemical contamination to biological effects in coastal pollution monitoring

Linking chemical contamination to biological effects in coastal pollution monitoring

Latitudinal gradients in benthic community composition in Western Atlantic estuaries

Benthic biotope index for classifying habitats in the sado estuary: Portugal

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