Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2012 Oct;64(10):2199-210. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.07.050. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
Although the impacts of dredged material disposal in the marine environment have been well studied, there is currently a limited understanding of the associated impacts on benthic function. This study compares macrofaunal structural and functional (based on secondary production estimates) responses to dredged material disposal at 14 sites across the coast of England and Wales. Disposal resulted in significant reductions of total secondary production at seven sites; no sites exhibited significant increases in production estimates. These seven sites were generally those which displayed significant structural impacts. There was no clear relationship between multivariate structural changes and taxonomic contribution to total production, indicating that a lack of change in the former (regarded as a sensitive indicator of change) does not always signify a lack of a significant functional impact. The need to evaluate functional changes, in addition to structural impacts, with respect to dredged material disposal site monitoring is discussed.
尽管疏浚物质在海洋环境中的影响已经得到了充分的研究，但目前对于其对底栖功能的相关影响仍知之甚少。本研究比较了在英格兰和威尔士沿海的 14 个地点，疏浚物质处理对底栖动物结构和功能（基于次级生产量估算）的影响。处理导致七个地点的总次级生产量显著减少；没有一个地点的生产估算值显著增加。这七个地点通常是那些显示出显著结构影响的地点。多变量结构变化与对总生产的分类贡献之间没有明显的关系，这表明前者（被认为是变化的敏感指标）没有变化并不总是意味着没有显著的功能影响。需要讨论在疏浚物质处理场地监测方面，除了结构影响外，还需要评估功能变化。
