Infaunal Community Responses to the Gradient of Heavy-metals in Langstone Harbour, UK

Year 2020, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 193 - 227, 24.07.2020

Elif Kılıç

https://doi.org/10.31807/tjwsm.741553

Abstract

The complex nature of the marine environments including a broad array of factors seems inconvenient to have specific indicator organisms alerting the changes in ecological quality based on pollutant inputs to water bodies. Benthic infauna, however, may respond to the pollution-induced spatial quality changes in a tidal inlet as they are incapable to avoid from the pollution sources and hence, from low quality of sediment and water. This research suggested that the interaction of sediment metal stressors and the possible associated factors finer grain fractions, estuary position and depth is likely to encounter with a specific distributional pattern of infauna. The communities of macroinfauna in Langstone Harbour were studied spatially from 36 samples collected across four subtidal stations, two each to the upper northern and the southern of the platform. The distinct variations in communities between and within stations and the most contributed species to variations were determined using multivariate analysis techniques. The structured model showed that the measured environmental factors explained 29.4% of infaunal community structure in the harbour with the highest contribution of chromium (6.6%). Environmental patterns suggested the increasing metal deposition in the finergrained muddy sediments towards the innermost basin with stagnant and shallower waters.

Keywords

Macroinfaunal distribution, infaunal community, subtidal sediment, heavy metals, Langstone Harbour

Thanks

This research project was designed and performed over the course of 2018/2019 academic year in the UK for the degree of Master of Science. I would like to express my gratitude to the Turkish Government and Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education for sponsoring and supporting my educational process to pursue my MSc degree.

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