TY - JOUR

T1 - Relative importance of multiple environmental variables in structuring benthic macroinfaunal assemblages in chronically metal-polluted salt marshes

AU - Goto, Daisuke

AU - Wallace, William G

N1 - Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2010/3/1

Y1 - 2010/3/1

N2 - In this study, we assessed importance of sediment-associated trace metals in structuring benthic macroinfaunal assemblages along multiple environmental gradients in chronically polluted salt marshes of the Arthur Kill - AK (New York, USA). More than 90% of benthic macroinfaunal communities at the northern AK sites consisted of a considerably large number of only a few polychaete and oligochaete species. Approximately 70% of among-site variances in abundance and biomass of benthic macroinfaunal communities was strongly associated with a few environmental variables; only sediment-associated mercury consistently contributed to a significant proportion of the explained variances in species composition along natural environmental gradients (e.g., salinity). Although sediment-associated copper, lead, and zinc were substantially elevated at some of the AK sites, their ecological impacts on benthic macroinfaunal communities appeared to be negligible. These findings suggest that cumulative metal-specific impacts may have played an important role in structuring benthic macroinfaunal communities in chronically polluted AK ecosystems.

AB - In this study, we assessed importance of sediment-associated trace metals in structuring benthic macroinfaunal assemblages along multiple environmental gradients in chronically polluted salt marshes of the Arthur Kill - AK (New York, USA). More than 90% of benthic macroinfaunal communities at the northern AK sites consisted of a considerably large number of only a few polychaete and oligochaete species. Approximately 70% of among-site variances in abundance and biomass of benthic macroinfaunal communities was strongly associated with a few environmental variables; only sediment-associated mercury consistently contributed to a significant proportion of the explained variances in species composition along natural environmental gradients (e.g., salinity). Although sediment-associated copper, lead, and zinc were substantially elevated at some of the AK sites, their ecological impacts on benthic macroinfaunal communities appeared to be negligible. These findings suggest that cumulative metal-specific impacts may have played an important role in structuring benthic macroinfaunal communities in chronically polluted AK ecosystems.

KW - Animals

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Biomass

KW - Environmental Monitoring

KW - Geologic Sediments/chemistry

KW - Invertebrates/drug effects

KW - Kinetics

KW - Mercury/analysis

KW - Metals, Heavy/analysis

KW - Multivariate Analysis

KW - New York

KW - Oligochaeta/drug effects

KW - Polychaeta/drug effects

KW - Seawater/chemistry

KW - Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis

KW - Wetlands

U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.11.002

DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.11.002

M3 - Article

C2 - 19954802

VL - 60

SP - 363

EP - 375

JO - Marine pollution bulletin

JF - Marine pollution bulletin

SN - 0025-326X

IS - 3

ER -