An assessment of the potential of major meiofauna groups for monitoring organic pollution |
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Authors: | David Raffaelli |
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Affiliation: | Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 2TN, Scotland, Great Britain |
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Abstract: | The numbers of six meiofauna groups (nematodes, copepods, turbellarians, archiannelids, oligochaetes and gastrotrichs) were estimated from 17 sandy beaches differing in their organic (sewage) pollution loadings. Nematodes were most abundant on polluted and fine sand beaches whilst copepods were more common on coarse sand and rare on polluted beaches. The ratio of nematodes to copepods may thus provide a useful index of beach quality. Archiannelids and oligochaetes seem restricted to particular habitat types and, with the turbellarians, have little potential for biomonitoring. Gastrotrichs occurred in large numbers on one polluted beach. |
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