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AuthorPilo, D.
AuthorBen-Hamadou, R.
AuthorPereira, F.
AuthorCarrico, A.
AuthorPereira, P.
AuthorCorzo, A.
AuthorGaspar, M.B.
AuthorCarvalho, S.
Available date2021-04-11T11:07:17Z
Publication Date2016
Publication NameEcological Indicators
ResourceScopus
URIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.019
URIhttp://hdl.handle.net/10576/18191
AbstractThe effects of metal contamination on estuarine macrobenthic communities were investigated using the Biological Traits Analysis (BTA). The study was carried out in the Tagus estuary (western Portugal). Samples of macrobenthic communities and associated environmental variables were taken in four surveys (September 2012, and February, May and October 2013) across the contamination gradient from three main zones: a slightly contaminated, a moderately contaminated and a highly contaminated zone. Functional traits for the most abundant species were assigned using seven categories based on “Feeding mode”, “Life span”, “Body size”, “Motility”, “Position in sediments”, “Larval type” and “AMBI ecological group”. To investigate whether the macroinvertebrate community structure was associated with the environmental parameters and biological traits an integrative multivariate analysis, combining the RLQ analysis and the fourth-corner method, was applied. Within this analysis, human-induced estuarine variables (metals) were rendered independent from natural ones (sediment fine particles) through partial correlations. Following this approach, it was possible to decouple the effects of two typically highly correlated environmental descriptors with different origins. Overall, the study identified significant relationships between sediment environmental descriptors and the functional traits of macrobenthic communities. Further, RLQ/Fourth-corner combined analysis successfully isolated the traits and corresponding species that were most correlated with the measured concentration of trace metals in sediments, supporting the knowledge that benthic organisms exhibit distinct responses to different levels of disturbance. A shift in species dominance occurred along the contamination gradient with epifaunal tolerant species with very small size, long life span, and crawling motility dominating the highest contaminated area. This area was also related with surface deposit-feeder species. The most representative species associated with this area was the gastropod Peringia ulvae. Less contaminated sites revealed large-sized specimens, carnivores and swimmers, mainly represented by the polychaete Nephtys hombergii. This finding is consistent with other studies addressing different kinds of disturbance, where a shift in dominance from carnivore/predators, long-lived and large animals to the predominance of small-size, short-lived and deposit-feeders has been observed across increasing gradients of disturbance. Our results reinforce the importance of macrobenthic functional traits analysis to assess human disturbances driven impacts in multi-stressed estuarine ecosystems. By analysing the environmental variables with different origins independently, we were able to draw conclusions about the effects of human pressures (metals) on macrobenthic traits. Such distinction can be particularly useful to isolate different environmental descriptors and assess their effects on functional diversity, making the current approach promising in evaluation the ecological effects of anthropogenic stressors in estuarine areas.
SponsorThis study was funded for the “Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (FCT) project “ECOAPPROACH” (PTDC/AAC-AMB/121037/2010). Special thanks are due to Dr. Alexandra Leitão for her help in the sampling design, to Dr. João Cúrdia, Dr. Paulo Vasconcelos and Dr. Marta Rufino for their valuable suggestions and comments in earlier versions of this manuscript, and to Dr. Joanne I. Ellis for proofreading the manuscript. We are also grateful to the “Estrutura de Missão para a Extensão da Plataforma Continental” (EMEPC) for the boat used during this study, and to Adolfo Lobo and Luís Bernardes for sampling assistance, as well as to Vítor Pica, and Jorge Amado, Nuno Queluz and Luís Onofre from “Bombeiros do Montijo”. We are also indebted to Dr. Joana Raimundo and Olinda Araújo for their help in the laboratory work and to Daniela Rosa for her help with the statistical analysis on R software. D.P. and A.C. benefit from grants from the above mentioned project and P.P. benefit from a Post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/69563/2010) awarded by the FCT. The authors would also like to thank the reviewers and editor for their constructive comments that contributed to substantially improve an earlier version of the manuscript. We are particularly thankful to one of the reviewers for specific directions regarding the applied combined RLQ/Fourth-corner analysis.
Languageen
PublisherElsevier B.V.
SubjectBiological trait analysis
Estuaries
Functional structure
Macrobenthic communities
Metals
RLQ/Fourth-corner combined analysis
TitleHow functional traits of estuarine macrobenthic assemblages respond to metal contamination?
TypeArticle
Pagination645-659
Volume Number71
dc.accessType Abstract Only


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