Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 62, Issue 3, Pages 525-538Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.11.031
Keywords
Microtidal estuary; Environmental degradation; Benthic macroinvertebrates; Stress indicators; Community analyses; South-western Australia
Funding
- Murdoch University
- Royal Society
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory
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This study tested the hypothesis that, during recent years, the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna of the large basin of the Swan-Canning Estuary has changed in ways consistent with deteriorating environmental conditions in that estuary. Between 1986/7 and 2003/4, the compositions of that fauna altered markedly at the species and even family levels. Thus, the densities and number of species of molluscs, and especially of crustaceans, which are particularly susceptible to environmental stress, declined, while those of the more tolerant polychaetes increased. However, taxonomic distinctness declined consistently only at one of the four widely-spaced sampling sites and the dispersion of samples did not differ markedly between periods, indicating that the benthic fauna has not undergone such extreme changes as in the nearby Peel-Harvey Estuary. It is thus proposed that benthic macroinvertebrates can act as important indicators of the severity of environmental degradation in microtidal estuaries in regions where such perturbations are increasing. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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