Distribution of benthic macrofaunal communities in intertidal flat under hydrodynamic influence:a case study of Jiangsu coast,East China

To identify the distribution pattern of macrofaunal assemblages of the Dafeng intertidal flats in response to hydrodynamic and sediment dynamic processes in the northern Jiangsu coast,East China,macrofauna sampling and hydrodynamic observations were carried out simultaneously across the mud flat,mixed mud-sand flat,and silt-sand flat of the intertidal zone in June 2018.Results show that there was a clear zonal distribution pattern of the macrofaunal communities,as is controlled by local hydrological and sedimentary environments.Principal component analysis(PCA)revealed three types of intertidal area in terms of hydrological and surficial sediment parameters.Similarly,three distinct groups of the macrofaunal communities,i.e.,mud flat,mix mud-sand,and silt-sand groups,were recognized at similarity level of 24%based on the CLUSTER analysis in similarity profile(SIMPROF)test.Correlation analysis upon best variables stepwise search(BVSTEP)indicated the importance of the hydrodynamics(e.g.,water temperature and salinity,tidal duration,flow speed,suspended sediment concentration,and wave height)in the differentiation of macrofaunal communities with different taxonomic classes over the intertidal zone.Therefore,macrofaunal assemblages,similar to hydrology and surficial sediment,have a unique zonation pattern.Small-sized deposit feeders adapt better to low energy environments,thus dominated the upper part of the intertidal flat,whilst the heavy and large-sized filter feeders and deposit feeders were dominant over the middle and lower parts.The hydrodynamic and sediment processes cause biota-niche separation,which affected the biological processes across the intertidal flat.

Spatiotemporal variations of benthic macrofaunal community in the Xiamen Amphioxus Nature Reserve, eastern South China Sea

In order to realize the spatiotemporal variations of benthic macrofaunal communities at the"Amphioxus Sand"habitat,six surveys including four seasons and three consecutive summers(i.e.,2014,2015 and 2016)were conducted in two core sites,i.e.,Huangcuo(HC)and Nanxian-Shibaxian(NX),in the Xiamen Amphioxus Nature Reserve in China.A total of 155 species of macrofauna were recorded,therein,polychaetes were dominant in terms of species number and density.Significant spatiotemporal variations of macrofaunal communities were observed.The density of polychaetes and the biomass of molluscs in the HC site were higher than those in the NX site.Macrofauna were more diverse and abundant in the cold seasons(winter and spring)than that in the warm seasons(summer and autumn).The annual variations of macrofaunal communities may be attributed to the changes in sediment texture among the three years of the survey.The variations in macrofaunal communities were mainly related to the proportion of polychaetes within the community.In addition,the density of amphioxus(include Branchiostoma japonicum and B.belcheri)was negatively correlated to that of polychaetes,bivalves,and crustaceans.Amphioxus was less likely to be found in the sediments with higher silt and clay content.Five biotic indices including Margaref’s richness index(d),Peilou’s evenness index(J′),Shannon-Wiener diversity index(H′),AMBI and M-AMBI were calculated in the present study.AMBI seems suitable in assessing benthic health at the"Amphioxus Sand"habitat,and a potential risk of ecological health in Xiamen Amphioxus Nature Reserve should be aware.