Effects of urban wastewater on crab and mollusc assemblages in equatorial and subtropical mangroves of East Africa

Mangrove forests are known to accomplish crucial ecosystem functions and services. They are nursery areas for fish, prawns and crabs, which provide coastal communities with a variety of food, timber and chemicals, and protect coasts from catastrophic events, such as tsunamis. Recently, a novel ecological service has been proposed for mangrove systems, namely natural wastewater treatment wetlands. This hypothesis was based on experimental data collected mainly in Chinese mangrove systems, which proved that mangrove soils were efficient in absorbing nutrients. Moreover, sewage loading seemed harmless to both plants and benthic communities in these systems. However, before promoting the use of natural mangroves as pollution buffers, or constructed mangrove wetlands as sewage treatment facilities, more data are needed on their overall tolerance to organic loading. Differences in macrobenthos patterns were thus investigated between peri-urban mangroves and sites not affected by sewage disposal in East Africa. We assessed differences in epifaunal assemblages, comprising crabs and molluscs, employing multivariate ACI unbalanced analyses to compare peri-urban mangrove swamps with those characteristic of non-urban mangroves with similar ecological traits. The sampling design was spatially nested, replicates being assessed at equatorial (southern Kenya) and subtropical (southern Mozambique) sites. The results manifested a consistent increase in crab biomass at the peri-urban sites in both Kenya and Mozambique. Moreover, the peri-urban systems were richer than the non-urban mangroves, both in terms of fiddler crabs (Uca spp.) which feed on benthic microalgae and bacteria, and sesarmids, such as Perisesarma guttatum and Neosarmatium meinerti, which feed on both substratum and leaf litter. The abundance of gastropods, in contrast, decreased significantly, especially in Kenya, mainly due to the disappearance of the mud whelk Terebralia palustris. The results thus indicate that, in East African mangrove systems, domestic wastewater has detectable effects on crabs and molluscs, suggesting their usefulness as bioindicators of its effects in mangroves. Transformed benthic patterns at the peri-urban sites indicated the need for further study of the actual potential of natural mangrove forests to absorb pollution in sewage treatment.     

Temporal changes of a macrobenthic assemblage in harsh lagoon sediments

An opportunistic macrobenthic assemblage was studied from 2001 to 2003 in a central area of the Cabras lagoon (western Sardinia, Italy), known to be affected by environmental disturbances (i.e. organic over-enrichment of sediments, and episodic events of hypoxia/anoxia and sulphide development). We identified recurrent seasonal changes in this macrobenthic assemblage, with a general impoverishment in summer and a recovery in winter/spring. The nereids Neanthes succinea and Hediste diversicolor were found to replace the spionid Polydora ciliata as the most dominant species in the summer for 3 consecutive years. Occasional, unsynchronized appearances of small-sized deposit feeders, such as Tubificidae, Capitella cf. capitata, chironomid larvae and Hydrobia spp., were observed in winter/spring. We suggest that these changes are driven by the interplay of environmental conditions (worse in summer) with numerous biotic factors. This includes different tolerance levels of taxa to low oxygen concentrations and sulphides, variability in larval supply and post-larval transport, as well as competition for space and food between and within different functional groups, and facilitation through animal bioturbation and sediment reoxidation. A conceptual model is proposed to demonstrate how environmental conditions and biotic interactions may control the benthic assemblage in such a harsh lagoon environment.     

乳山口西村潮间带大型底栖动物生态学研究

根据2006年12月至2007年11月4个季度月(冬、春、夏、秋)对位于乳山口西村潮间带的高潮带(R1站)、中潮带(R2站)和低潮带(R3站)所设的3个站进行的生态调查所获得的样品,分析研究了该潮间带大型底栖动物的生态学特点和季节变化.结果表明,乳山口西村潮间带大型底栖动物的总平均栖息密度、总平均生物量和总种数分别为103.33个/m2,7.056g/m2和41种,在高潮带分别是72个/m2,0.64 g/m2和21种,中潮带分别是115个/m2,8.584 g/m2和29种,低潮带分别是123个/m2,11.943 g/m2和12种.3个潮带的总平均密度(D)大小顺序为:DR3>DR2>DR1>,总平均生物量(B)为:BR3>BR2>BR1,总种数(S)为:SR2>SR1>SR3>.这些生态特征与其他海域潮间带的生态特征有很大差异,造成这些差异的因素主要是底质、潮汐、季节和人为干扰等.本研究有助于了解乳山口渔港进出渔船和其他船只对周边海洋底栖动物的影响,为以后的底栖动物比较研究提供基础资料.     

Macrobenthos monitoring in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt

The biogeography of macrobenthic communities with large-scale differences in species distribution and abundance was studied along the eastern and western coastal regions of the Gulf of Suez to indicate biodiversity of benthos in relation to the prevailing environmental conditions. In general, benthos have a wide variety of species of mainly polychaet worms, crustaceans, bivalves, and other bottom invertebrates living in burrows in/or on the sediment surface. Coastal development clearly affects the ecosystem after the construction of coastal projects. The highest values of benthic diversity, evenness, richness and dominance are found at the Gulf of Suez （WG 1, WG 3）, Ras Gharib （WG 7, WG 8） and Ras Shukier （WG 9a） by contrast to others. The abundance of macrobenthic organsims along the coasts of Gulf of Suez can be arranged in the following sequence： other groups （34%） greater than crustaceans （25%） greater than polychaetes （22%） greater than molluscs （17%） greater than echinoderms （2%）. The biomass of benthic assemblages at different sampling sites can also be ranked as follows： echinoderms （52%） greater than molluscs （27%） greater than crustaceans （16%） greater than polychaetes （2%） greater than other groups （3%）. Some benthic groups or species indicated a distinctive correlation to pollution sources in the marine ecosystem which obviously increased in the coastal areas due to the extension of the coastal development. These activities needed regular information to establish database for the biology and distribution of marine benthic communities. The density and diversity of benthos are significantly affected by eutrophication at Ain Sukhna, whereas the benthos in the open Gulf of Suez do not seem to be adversely affected by pollution.     

The impact of extreme flooding events and anthropogenic stressors on the macrobenthic communities’ dynamics

Marine and coastal environments are among the most ecologically and socio-economically important habitats on Earth. However, climate change associated with a variety of anthropogenic stressors (e.g. eutrophication) may interact to produce combined impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, which in turn will have profound implications for marine ecosystems and the economic and social systems that depend upon them.     

Prey versus substrate as determinants of habitat choice in a feeding shorebird

Many shorebirds on their non-breeding grounds feed on macrobenthic fauna which become available at low tide in coastal intertidal flats. The Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis in Moreton Bay Australia, varies greatly in density among different tidal flats. This study asks: how important is the abundance of intertidal prey as a predictor of this variation? We quantified feeding curlews’ diet across 12 sites (different tidal flats, each re-visited at least eight times), through 970 focal observations. We also estimated the abundance of total macrobenthic fauna, potential prey taxa and crustacean prey on each tidal flat; measured as the number of individuals and a relative biomass index per unit substrate surface area obtained from substrate core samples. We estimated curlew density at each site using low-tide surveys from every site visit.     

胶州湾辛岛潮间带大型底栖动物生态学调查

利用2003年8月至2004年5月(夏、秋、冬、春季)4个季度月在胶州湾辛岛潮间带的3个不同潮区的调查资料进行分析。结果共获得大型底栖动物43种,其中低潮区出现27种,中潮区和高潮区20种和19种,有6种属于3个潮区共有种。大型底栖动物总平均栖息密度为102.5个/m2,5月最高,为144.67个/m2,2月最低,为52.66个/m2;总平均生物量为60.01g/m2,11月最高,为102.99g/m2,2月最低,仅为11.87g/m2。本区大型底栖动物的栖息密度和生物量有明显的季节变化。     

湄洲湾东吴港区附近潮间带大型底栖动物的时空分布及次级生产力

湄洲湾位于福建沿海中部,作者于2008年1月（冬季）、10月（秋季）,依据《海洋监测规范》（GB17378-2007）,在湄洲湾东吴港区附近设置3条潮间带断面,进行大型底栖动物调查采样．调查结果表明：共采获潮间带大型底栖动物283种,其中多毛类94种、软体动物91种、甲壳动物74种、棘皮动物9种、鱼类5种、其它类群动物10种．C断面种类最多179种．调查期间大型底栖动物平均生物量20．07g／m^2,平均栖息密度645．9ind／m^2,B断面生物量最高,A断面栖息密度最大．年平均去灰干重3．61g（AFDW）／m^2,依据Brey（1990）的公式计算,潮间带大型底栖动物次级生产力5．33g（AFDW）／（m^2·a）,年平均P／B值为1．93．调查海域潮间带大型底栖动物种类数量、生物量、次级生产力、P／B值均高于海坛海峡潮间带．     

珠江口东南部海域大型底栖生物群落特征研究

根据2006年的3月和7月在珠江口东南部海域进行的大型底栖生物调查,初步鉴定出大型底栖生物共156种,其中多毛类种类最多(79种),其次是甲壳动物(37种)。7月(116种)比3月(92种)种类多。3月大型底栖生物平均生物量和平均密度分别为6.703g/m2和679.4ind/m2,7月分别为22.436g/m2和576.3ind/m2。大型底栖生物种类数、生物量、密度和多样性指数(H’和J’)在调查海区东南部相对较低。采用Bray-Curtis相似性系数聚类分析和多维排序尺度(MDS)分析了3月和7月大型底栖生物群落的相似性,认为相同季节各站大型底栖生物相似性系数较高,大型底栖生物群落季节性差异相对较大。大型底栖生物群落在40%相似性以上,3月和7月分别可以划分出2个和3个生物群落。3月大型底栖生物群落Ⅱ和7月群落Ⅰ受到中等程度的扰动,其它生物群落处于轻微扰动状态。大型底栖生物种类数、密度、种类均匀度和种类丰富度与水深和沉积物特征相关性显著。