Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Volume 176, Issue 1-4, Pages 427-438Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-010-1594-1
Keywords
Eutrophication; Nutrient enhancement; Anthropogenic loads; Macrobenthos; Pollution assessment; Cochin estuary
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Funding
- Director, ICMAM-PD, Chennai
- Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai
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The influence of anthropogenic loading on the distribution of soft bottom benthic organisms of a tropical estuary (Cochin backwaters) was examined. The industrial activities were found to be high in the northern and central part of the estuary, where dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN > 210 mu M) and phosphorus (DIP > 6.5 mu M) have caused high abundance of chlorophyll a (up to 73 mg m(-3)) and accumulation of organic carbon in sediments (up to 5%). Principal component analysis distinguished three zones in the estuary. The central zone (Z1) was characterized by organic enrichment, low species diversity, and increased number of pollution tolerant species. Long-term deterioration of the estuary is indicated by an increase in the nutrients and chlorophyll a levels by sixfold during the last few decades. Flow restrictions in the lower estuary have lead to a fourfold increase in sediment organic carbon over the period of three decades. The reduced benthic diversity followed by an invasion of opportunistic polychaetes (Capitella capitata), are indicative of a stress in the estuary.
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