Marine soft-bottom benthic community offshore from Black Rock sewage outfall, Connewarre, Victoria

Abstract

The shallow-water benthic community offshore from Black Rock sewage outfall consists of a moderately diverse crustacean and polychaete infaunal assemblage living in fine-grained, homogeneous, sandy sediments. Most organisms are detritus- or suspension-feeders, with detritus coming largely from planktonic and suspended sources. Sewage effluent may secondarily enrich inshore sediments which support dense populations of spionid polychaetes and Callianassa ceramica.

Changes in a benthic community associated with dense beds of a burrowing deposit feeder, Callianassa californiensis

“…Certain Caribbean species of Callianassa negatively affect suspension-feeding organisms and Thalassia growth (Aller & Dodge 1974, Suchanek 1983). Spionid polychaete distributions were negatively correlated with that of Callianassa cerarnica in Australia (Dorsey & Synnot 1980). Bird (1982) also observed significantly fewer species within a C. califom'ensis bed compared to beds of the sedentary burrowing shrimp Upogebia puggettensis, but no data were provided from habitats in whlch neither species was common.…”

Marine environments of Southeast Australia (Gippsland Shelf and Bass Strait) and the impact of offshore petroleum exploration and production activity

“…The influx of nutrients in domestic wastewater affects the composition of such natural benthic communities by increasing the production of benthic algae and the abundance of deposit-and suspension-feeding invertebrate species (Dorsey & Synnot, 1980). The nature of changes triggered by urban runoff and sewage-related effluent can be clearly distinguished from that of petroleum production effluent because of the more severe and obvious effects of the high nitrate and phosphate levels in urban effluent.…”

“…Dorsey and Synnot (1980) investigated the impact of domestic wastewater outside Port Phillip Bay (waters 2 to 5 m deep) on substrates populated by a diverse crustacean and polychaete infaunal assemblage, living in fine, sandy sediments. Most of the organisms are detritus or suspension feeders, with detritus coming from planktonic or suspended sources (Poore & Rainer, 1979).…”

Depth, sediment type, biogeography and high species richness in shallow-water benthos

“…During May 1998 a survey of sediments along the entire coast was undertaken (Roob et al 1999). Subsequently, some of the sediment samples were sorted for benthos and provided the first state-wide, quantitative survey of coastal benthos; previous studies covered only those few areas, collectively ∼60 km of the coast, (potentially) receiving domestic or industrial effluent (Dorsey and Synnot 1980;Ashton and Richardson 1995;Coleman et al 1997;Newell et al 1999). These studies allowed the distribution of benthos to be investigated in relation to depth, sediment type, bioregion, and facilitated the on-going discussion of the relative species richness of shallow and deep-sea benthos.…”