CORE
🇺🇦
make metadata, not war
Services
Services overview
Explore all CORE services
Access to raw data
API
Dataset
FastSync
Content discovery
Recommender
Discovery
OAI identifiers
OAI Resolver
Managing content
Dashboard
Bespoke contracts
Consultancy services
Support us
Support us
Membership
Sponsorship
Community governance
Advisory Board
Board of supporters
Research network
About
About us
Our mission
Team
Blog
FAQs
Contact us
research
Evaluation of estuarine biotic indices to assess macro-benthic structure and functioning following nutrient remediation actions: A case study on the Eden estuary Scotland
Authors
N.J Beaumont
D.M. Paterson
Stephen Watson
S. Widdicombe
Publication date
1 November 2018
Publisher
'Elsevier BV'
Doi
Cite
Abstract
© 2018 Despite a wealth of methods currently proposed by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to assess macro-benthic integrity, determining good ecological status (GES) and assessing ecosystem recovery following anthropogenic degradation is still one of the biggest challenges in marine ecology research. In this study, our aim was to test a number of commonly used structural (e.g. Shannon–Wiener, Average Taxonomic Diversity ([Formula presented]), M-AMBI) and functional indicators (e.g. BTA, BPc) currently used in benthic research and monitoring programmes on the Eden estuary (Scotland). Historically the estuary has a legacy of high nutrient conditions and was designated as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) in 2003, whence major management measures were implemented in order to ameliorate the risk of eutrophication symptoms. We therefore collected data on intertidal macro-benthic communities over a sixteen year interval, covering a pre-management (1999) and post-management (2015) period to assess the effectiveness of the intended restoration efforts. In the post-management period, the results suggested an improvement in the structure and functioning of the estuary as a whole, but macro-benthic assemblages responded to restoration variably along the estuarine gradient. The greatest improvements were noticed in the upper and central sites of the estuary with functional traits analysis suggesting an increased ability of these sites to provide ecosystem services associated with the benthic environment such as carbon and organic matter cycling. Generally, almost all of the structural and functional indicators detected the prevailing environmental conditions (with the exception of (Pielou's index and Average Taxonomic Diversity ([Formula presented])), highlighting the appropriateness of such methods to be used in monitoring the recovery of transitional systems. This research also provides a robust baseline to monitor further management actions in the Eden estuary and provides evidence that notable reductions in nitrate concentrations resulting from NVZ designations may result in significant improvements to benthic structure and functioning
Similar works
Full text
Open in the Core reader
Download PDF
Available Versions
University of St. Andrews - Pure
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:research-portal.st-andrews...
Last time updated on 29/01/2024
Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA)
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:plymsea.ac.uk:8071
Last time updated on 02/01/2019
St Andrews Research Repository
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:research-repository.st-and...
Last time updated on 21/10/2019
University of St. Andrews - Pure
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:research-portal.st-andrews...
Last time updated on 29/01/2024
Bournemouth University Research Online
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk:...
Last time updated on 28/11/2018