title: Detecting benthic community responses to pollution in estuaries: a field mesocosm approach.
abstract: Biological stress responses in individuals are used as indicators of pollution in aquatic ecosystems, but detecting ecologically relevant responses in whole communities remains a challenge. We developed an experimental approach to detect the effects of pollution on estuarine communities using field-based mesocosms. Mesocosms containing defaunated sediments from four estuaries in southeastern Australia that varied in sediment contamination were transplanted and buried in sediments of the same four estuaries for six weeks. Mesocosm sediment properties and metal concentrations remained representative of their source locations. In each estuary, fauna communities associated with sediments derived from the site with the highest metal concentrations were significantly different from other communities. This pattern was evident for some of the individual taxa, in particular the polychaete Capitella sp. Consistent responses across estuaries suggest numbers of individuals, and especially Capitella sp., could be used to identify contaminated sediments in estuaries with similar fauna and site characteristics.
authors: Department of Zoology, Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management (CAPIM), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. allyson@unimelb.edu.au
authors: Allyson L
authors: AL
authors: O'Brien
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Keough
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D011077:Polychaeta / Q000378:metabolism; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical