Diagnostic Indicators of Biological Community: An Experimental Test in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

摘要 粤ICP备15015849号-1 底栖无脊椎动物群落被广泛用于监测和评价海洋环境污染的生物影响，因为它们的固着生活方式、寿命长、功能多样性、众所周知的分类学和生态意义，使这一系统成为一个理想的生态模板，生物后果将在其上留下印记。 底栖生物群落已成功地用于环境评估，令人信服地表明，污染的影响在大型底栖无脊椎动物的科和门一级很容易检测到。 这种在高分类水平上检测污染影响的能力似乎是不同分类群以相反的方式对两类底栖生物群落（有机负荷和毒性）作出反应的结果。 该项目旨在检验一种假设，即大型底栖动物和（或）小型底栖动物各门的丰度和产量指数可用作独立的诊断方法，以区分这两类不同的海洋污染所造成的通常混淆不清的影响。 PI将检验以下假设：环节动物蠕虫和线虫通过适度的有机负荷而增强，节肢动物和棘皮动物通过适度暴露于有毒污染物（微量金属）而优先受到抑制。 第一个假设将在麦默多站附近进行检验，因为：（1）该站相对稳定的环境使实验工作能够在海底进行，而不会受到混杂干扰的影响;（2）以前在该站进行的底栖生物研究显示了沉积物污染和底栖生物群落退化的严重混杂模式;（3）寒冷的极地海洋中自然生物补救的比率很低，因此研究高纬度地区的污染影响尤为重要。 第一个目标是在麦默多站附近建立一个现场实验，在那里他们将操纵定殖盘中沉积物中的有机负荷和痕量Meta浓度，以便通过析因设计（允许测试因素之间的相互作用）来测试单独的分类群是否独立地对污染类别作出反应。 处理还将包括进入较大的移动的捕食者和社区发展的时间，以评估生态系统内的生物相互作用是否具有污染压力指数的诊断能力。 第二，PI将完成对所有关于污染对海洋无脊椎动物群落影响的现有数据集的严格审查和荟萃分析，以使用来自监测排放、石油泄漏和以前实验的大量预先存在的信息来检验假设。 结果有很大的潜力，使社区压力的诊断指标，可用于分离海洋污染的原因混淆的原因，并直接在麦默多站适当的管理对策的建立

ABSTRACT OPP-96-15849 Communities of benthic invertebrates are widely used to monitor and evaluate biological impacts of pollution in the marine environment because their sessile life styles, longevity, functional diversity, well-known taxonomy and ecological significance render this system an ideal ecological template on which biological consequences are imprinted. Benthic communities have been used successfully in environmental assessments for convincing demonstrations that impacts of pollution are readily detectable at the level of family and phylum for macrofaunal invertebrates. This ability to detect pollution impacts at high taxonomic levels appears to be a consequence of different taxa responding to two classes of benthic communities, organic loading and toxicity, in opposite ways. This project is designed to test the hypothesis that indices of abundance and production for individual phyla of macrofauna and/or meiofauna can be used as independent diagnostics to tease apart the typically confounded impacts of these two separate classes of marine pollution. The PIs will test the hypothesis that annelid worms and nematodes are enhanced by modest organic loading and that arthropods and echinoderms are depressed preferentially by modest exposure to toxic contaminants (trace metals). The first hypothesis will be tested near McMurdo Station because of 1) its relatively constant environment allows experimental work to proceed on the seafloor without compromise by confounding disturbances; 2) previous benthic studies at this site have revealed significant confounded patterns of sediment contamination and benthic community degradation; and 3) low rates of natural bioremediation in cold polar oceans make study of pollution impacts especially critical at high latitudes. The first objective will be to establish a field experiment near McMurdo Station where they will manipulate organic loading and trace meta l concentration in sediments within colonization trays so as to test by factorial design (permitting tests of interactions between factors) whether the separate taxa respond independently to the classes of pollution. Treatments will also include access of larger mobile predators and time for community development so as to assess whether biological interactions within the ecosystem with the diagnostic capability of the indices of pollution stress. Second, the PIs will complete a rigorous review and meta-analysis of all available data sets on effects of pollution on marine invertebrate communities to test the hypothesis using the wealth of pre-existing information from monitoring discharges, oil spills, and previous experimentation. Results have great potential to allow the establishment of diagnostic indicators of community stress that can be used to separate confounded causes of causes of marine pollution and direct appropriate management responses at McMurdo Station