title: Benthic habitat health assessment using macrofauna communities of a sub-tropical semi-enclosed bay under excess nutrients.
abstract: This research was conducted to assess the ecosystem health of Daya Bay benthic habitat, investigate the effects of anthropogenic nutrients, and evaluate the application of ecological indicators for benthic health assessment. Environmental indicators and macrobenthic communities, were investigated during summer and winter 2015. Results indicated a strong seasonality in biotope of intertidal and subtidal zones. Lower macrobenthic diversity were calculated from subtidal inner bay, reflecting the effects of anthropogenic nutrients. However, intertidal sites in that part were indicated to be in a relatively healthier ecological status. Seasonal effects of excess nutrients on benthic habitat were reflected in ecological indicators. It is concluded that the excess nutrients at spatiotemporal scales, influences on the health of benthic habitat. Eventually, it is recommended by this research that, with considering the natural/anthropogenic circumstances, the taxonomic and phylogenetic ecological indicators would be helpful tools to evaluate the benthic health of a typical sub-tropical semi-enclosed bay.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Arbi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Songlin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yunchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: xphuang@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D061006:Bays; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010802:Phylogeny; D012621:Seasons
keywords: Benthic habitat health; Daya Bay; Macrobenthos; South China Sea