Effect of Sewage Discharge in Spisula subtruncata (da Costa 1778) Populations

Abstract

Sewage discharge is a common source of pollution in coastal marine waters. Several municipal treatment plants dump treated water in medium to fine sand Spisula subtruncata communities. This bivalve is generally considered a major food source for demersal fishes, and it is important as a dominant species in structuring the macrobenthic community during the spring and summer months. We sampled within five locations affected by sewage discharge along the Castellon coast (northwest Mediterranean Sea) where S. subtruncata (da Costa 1778) is a common bivalve. Van Veen grab samples were obtained for the study of the bivalve population and to characterize the sediment. The sewage discharges studied affect Spisula populations. In the stations near the outfalls, the abundance and the average size of S. subtruncata decreased. However, this effect did not correlate with sediment characteristics, such as granulometry or pH.

Polychaete/amphipod ratios: An approach to validating simple benthic indicators

“…-Five sites from two different sectors in the Ares-Betanzos Ría, Galicia, NW Spain sampled after the spill of the Greek tanker Aegean Sea (December 1992−November 1996 [for further information Gomez-Gesteira and Dauvin (2000Dauvin ( , 2005]. -Four sites at two distances from the discharge outfall (0 and 1000 m) affected by sewage discharge along the Castellón coast (Mediterranean Sea, NE Spain) and sampled for five consecutive summers (2004−2008) [for further information see de la Ossa Carretero et al, 2008;Del-Pilar-Ruso et al, 2009;de-la-OssaCarretero et al (2008de-la-OssaCarretero et al ( , 2009de-la-OssaCarretero et al ( and 2010]. …”