Lam-Gordillo Orlando, Mosley Luke M, Simpson Stuart L, Welsh David T, Dittmann Sabine
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Kaurna Country, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Kaurna Country, Adelaide, Australia.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Jan;174:113202. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113202. Epub 2021 Dec 2.
Estuarine ecosystems are considered hotspots for productivity, biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity, however, their functions and services are threatened by several anthropogenic pressures. We investigated how abundance and diversity of benthic macrofauna, and their functional traits, correlate to sediment biogeochemistry and nutrient concentrations throughout an estuarine-to-hypersaline lagoon. Benthic communities and functional traits were significantly different across the sites analysed, with higher abundance and more traits expressed in the estuarine region. The results revealed that the benthic trait differences correlated with sediment biogeochemistry and nutrient concentrations in the system. The estuarine regions were dominated by high abundance of large burrowing and bioturbating macrofauna, promoting nutrient cycling and organic matter mineralisation, while these organisms were absent in the hypersaline lagoon, favouring accumulation of organic matter and nutrients in the sediment. The results highlight the importance of preserving healthy benthic communities to maintain ecosystem functioning and mitigate the potential impacts of eutrophication in estuarine ecosystems.
河口生态系统被认为是生产力、生物地球化学循环和生物多样性的热点地区，然而，它们的功能和服务受到多种人为压力的威胁。我们研究了整个河口到超盐度泻湖的底栖大型动物的丰度和多样性及其功能特征与沉积物生物地球化学和营养物浓度之间的关系。在所分析的不同地点，底栖生物群落和功能特征存在显著差异，河口区域的丰度更高，表达的特征更多。结果表明，底栖生物特征差异与系统中的沉积物生物地球化学和营养物浓度相关。河口区域以大量挖掘和生物扰动的大型底栖动物为主，促进了营养物质循环和有机物质矿化，而在超盐度泻湖中这些生物不存在，有利于沉积物中有机物质和营养物质的积累。研究结果凸显了保护健康的底栖生物群落对于维持生态系统功能以及减轻河口生态系统富营养化潜在影响的重要性。
