Variation of a sandy beach macrobenthic community along a human-induced environmental gradient

Lercari, Diego; Defeo, Omar

doi:10.1016/s0272-7714(03)00043-x

Cited by 85 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In fact, although faunal assemblages in mangroves vary considerably spatially, which often confounds the results (Lindegarth and Hoskin, 2001;Chapman and Tolhurst, 2004), the macrofaunal distribution and diversity in peri-urban coastal systems have proven susceptible to a variety of pollutants and impacts, such as metals (Birch, 1996;Bergey and Weiss, 2008), pesticides (Garmouma et al, 1998), hydrocarbons (Siewicki, 1997Inglis and Kross, 2000) and altered nutrient loads (Carpenter et al, 1998). Although it is often difficult to disentangle the specific effects of these many causes of disturbance, sewage disposal is surely one of the major causes of diversity loss in intertidal (Lercari and Defeo, 2003;Wear and Tanner, 2007) and subtidal coastal ecosystems (Roberts, 1996;Roberts et al, 1998). It appears difficult to hypothesise that wastewater dumping would not result in major changes in mangrove macrofauna.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of urban wastewater on crab and mollusc assemblages in equatorial and subtropical mangroves of East Africa

Cannicci

Bartolini

Dahdouh‐Guebas

et al. 2009

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

102

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a b s t r a c tMangrove forests are known to accomplish crucial ecosystem functions and services. They are nursery areas for fish, prawns and crabs, which provide coastal communities with a variety of food, timber and chemicals, and protect coasts from catastrophic events, such as tsunamis. Recently, a novel ecological service has been proposed for mangrove systems, namely natural wastewater treatment wetlands. This hypothesis was based on experimental data collected mainly in Chinese mangrove systems, which proved that mangrove soils were efficient in absorbing nutrients. Moreover, sewage loading seemed harmless to both plants and benthic communities in these systems. However, before promoting the use of natural mangroves as pollution buffers, or constructed mangrove wetlands as sewage treatment facilities, more data are needed on their overall tolerance to organic loading. Differences in macrobenthos patterns were thus investigated between peri-urban mangroves and sites not affected by sewage disposal in East Africa. We assessed differences in epifaunal assemblages, comprising crabs and molluscs, employing multivariate ACI unbalanced analyses to compare peri-urban mangrove swamps with those characteristic of non-urban mangroves with similar ecological traits. The sampling design was spatially nested, replicates being assessed at equatorial (southern Kenya) and subtropical (southern Mozambique) sites. The results manifested a consistent increase in crab biomass at the peri-urban sites in both Kenya and Mozambique. Moreover, the peri-urban systems were richer than the non-urban mangroves, both in terms of fiddler crabs (Uca spp.) which feed on benthic microalgae and bacteria, and sesarmids, such as Perisesarma guttatum and Neosarmatium meinerti, which feed on both substratum and leaf litter. The abundance of gastropods, in contrast, decreased significantly, especially in Kenya, mainly due to the disappearance of the mud whelk Terebralia palustris. The results thus indicate that, in East African mangrove systems, domestic wastewater has detectable effects on crabs and molluscs, suggesting their usefulness as bioindicators of its effects in mangroves. Transformed benthic patterns at the peri-urban sites indicated the need for further study of the actual potential of natural mangrove forests to absorb pollution in sewage treatment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of urban wastewater on crab and mollusc assemblages in equatorial and subtropical mangroves of East Africa

Cannicci

Bartolini

Dahdouh‐Guebas

et al. 2009

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

102

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“…Em um estudo conduzido no Uruguai, a descarga de água doce proveniente de um canal artificial afetou significativamente a distribuição horizontal e a abundância da macrofauna bentônica, e a salinidade foi a variável responsável pela variação dos fatores bióticos (Lercari & Defeo, 2003). Lercari et al (2002) (2000) verificaram em uma escala de dezenas de metros, em uma praia intermediária-dissipativa uruguaia com declividade de 2,5° a 8°, que houve diferença significativa na abundância das espécies relacionada ao sistema de cúspides.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…A construção de canais de drenagem, exploração comercial do macrozoobentos, engordamento da praia e a construção de barreiras são perturbações antrópicas que influenciam na variabilidade horizontal da macrofauna em praias arenosas (Defeo & De aLava, 1995;peterson et al, 2000;Lercari et al, 2002;Lercari & Defeo, 2003).…”

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Distribuição horizontal da macrofauna bentônica na praia do Cassino, extremo sul do Brasil

Neves

Silva

Bemvenuti

2012

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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ABSTRACT. Longshore distribution of the benthic macrofauna on Cassino beach, southernmost Brazil. The longshore distribution of the benthic macrofauna on Cassino beach, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil were studied during one year (from June 2004 to May 2005) on a monthly basis sampling. Three sites were chosen 50 m apart from each other. On each site three transects, 2 m apart from each other were anchored. Each transect extended from the base of the primary dunes to approximately 1 m depth into the infralittoral. The distances to the sampling levels in each transect were 20 m to the upper limit of the swash zone, from which the distances were of 10 m. The longshore variation of major species and community was highlighted in a 50 m to 100 m range in some occasions. This variation occurred, probably, due to the water level elevation because the meteorological factors.KEYWORDS. Sandy beaches, benthic community, spatial-temporal distribution, richness. RESUMO.A distribuição horizontal da macrofauna bentônica na praia do Cassino, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil foi estudada durante o período de um ano (junho 2004 a maio de 2005) com base em coletas mensais. Foram escolhidos três locais, com 50 m de distância um do outro, sendo que em cada local foram fundeadas três transversais 2 m equidistantes. Cada transversal estendeu-se da base das dunas primárias até aproximadamente 1 m de profundidade no infralitoral. A distância dos níveis de coleta em cada transversal foi de 20 m até o limite superior da zona de varrido, a partir do qual a distância foi de 10 m. Em algumas ocasiões foi evidenciada variação espacial horizontal de alguns dos principais táxons, bem como da comunidade bentônica dentro de uma escala de 50 m e 100 m. Esta variação foi provavelmente reflexo da ação das marés meteorológicas que causam abrupta elevação do nível do mar. PALAVRAS-CHAVE.Praias arenosas, comunidade bentônica, distribuição espaço-temporal, riqueza.

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“…The diversity and the structure of the macrofaunal community are considered representative bioindicators of impacts on sandy beaches (Fanini et al, 2009;Lercari and Defeo, 2003;Peterson et al, 2000;Schoeman et al, 2000). Intertidal invertebrates are at the basis of the food chain (Audisio, 2002;McLachlan and Brown, 2006), thus representing a key-component of the beach ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arthropods in particular, well adapted to harsh climatic conditions and involved in the processing of nutrients from both sea and land, have been recognised as reliable bioindicators of ecosystem stability and recommended for use in conservation planning of sandy beaches Finnamore, 1996;Mattoni et al, 2000). However, a relatively little attention was given to the longterm effects of human-induced disturbances on the macrofaunal community structure of beaches (Bessa et al, 2013a;Lercari and Defeo, 2003;Schoeman et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macrofaunal community abundance and diversity and talitrid orientation as potential indicators of ecological long-term effects of a sand-dune recovery intervention

Nourisson

Bessa

Scapini

et al. 2014

Ecological Indicators

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a b s t r a c tIn the last decades the increasing urban development on coastal areas have produced extensive modifications on shores all over the world, making critical the active management of pressures on sandy beaches. The use of engineering solutions to counteract beach erosion has been significantly increasing; the ecological indicators used to monitor these interventions generally focus on short-and medium-term effects, while little is known on their effectiveness on long-term temporal scales. The following ecological indicators have been tested in the present study: (a) macrofaunal community abundance and diversity and (b) orientation behaviour of Talitrus saltator, a talitrid amphipod widespread on Mediterranean and European Atlantic sandy beaches. Two sites were considered on a sandy beach of the Portuguese Atlantic coast, one located in front of a natural dune and the other at about 500 m of distance, where the dune had been rebuilt between 2000 and 2008 using geotextile tubes. In 2011 and 2012, macrofauna sampling and orientation experiments on T. saltator were performed at both sites in spring and autumn; contemporaneously the main environmental variables were registered. Macrofaunal data were analysed through multivariate statistical tests, and for the orientation distributions the circular statistics were calculated and multivariate analyses for angular data were performed. Geotextiles appeared to be successful in stabilising the recovered dunes; accordingly, the diversity of the macrofaunal communities and the orientation performances of T. saltator showed no differences between the altered and control sites. Significant reductions were nevertheless observed in the artificial-dune site regarding the abundance of T. saltator and, to a lesser extent, macrofaunal densities, likely ascribable to the presence of geotextiles instead of a vegetated natural dune, preventing invertebrates to burrow into the sand. These results, complementing a more comprehensive study on these two sites, indicate the abundance of T. saltator as the best indicator to follow long-term effects of this kind of soft-engineering intervention. The use of this bioindicator may be recommended for the late phases of monitoring procedures in dune-recovery processes.

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Variation of a sandy beach macrobenthic community along a human-induced environmental gradient

Cited by 85 publications

References 18 publications

Effects of urban wastewater on crab and mollusc assemblages in equatorial and subtropical mangroves of East Africa

Effects of urban wastewater on crab and mollusc assemblages in equatorial and subtropical mangroves of East Africa

Distribuição horizontal da macrofauna bentônica na praia do Cassino, extremo sul do Brasil

Macrofaunal community abundance and diversity and talitrid orientation as potential indicators of ecological long-term effects of a sand-dune recovery intervention

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