Macrobenthic community in the Xiaoqing River Estuary in Laizhou Bay, China

The macrobenthic community of the Xiaoqing River Estuary and the adjacent sea waters was investigated in May and November 2008, August 2009, and May and September 2010, respectively. A total of 95 species of macrobenthos were identified in the five cruises and most of them were polychaetes (46.39%), mollusks (28.86%) and crustaceans (20.62%). The Shannon-Wiener index of macrobenthos was lower than 2 in 67% sites. Along the stream channel, estuary and the coastal waters, the species of polychaetes reduced gradually, while the abundance increased at first and then decreased. The abundance was the biggest at regions with salinity of 5–20 in the estuary. The species and abundance of mollusks and crustaceans increased gradually. As for seasonal distribution, the species, abundance and biomass were higher in spring and lower in summer and autumn. Contemporaneously compared with Laizhou Bay and Yellow River Estuary, the species of macrobenthos appeared in the Xiaoqing River Estuary were much less, while the percentage of polychaetes was higher. Abundance and biomass were higher in Xiaoqing River estuary, then consequently followed by Laizhou Bay and Yellow River Estuary. The dominant species in Xiaoqing River Estuary was polychaete, and Layzhou Bay mollusk. The community structure characteristics of macrobenthos in the Xiaoqing River Estuary revealed a significant pollution status in this region.