Report: Long-term changes in the eulitoral macrozoobenthos in the Mesohalinic of Weser fatigue
Description
In the Weser fatigue since 1969, waste water from a
Titanium dioxide factory inaugurated. As part of a monitoring programme, the long-term changes have been
the eulitoral benthos in the mesohaline section of the estuary using mapping data from the years 1968, 1980 and 1992
inspected. With the help of cluster analyses, eight Benthos associations could be defined and described, the number of which is
reduced from 1968 (7) to 1992 (3). This loss of diversity of communities is likely to result in a loss of environmental quality.
it does not indicate that the direct causes could be mentioned. At the same time, distribution areas of many species
as well as the entire benthos biocenosis shifted upstream, which is due to the long-term increase in salinity.
Particularly noticeable changes should be mentioned: 1) a sharp decline in brackish seaweed Vaucheria sp., demonstrably
not caused by waste water from TiO2 production, and 2) establishment of the polychaete Marenzelleria c.f. wireni since
1986, who immigrated in the course of the 1980s to many estuaries of the southern North Sea. Since 1969, the Weser estuary is recipient of wastewater from a
titanium dioxide factory. In the framework of environmental control investigations, the long-term changes of intertidal benthic
assemblages in the mesohalinic section of the estuary have been studied by a comparison of survey data from 1968, 1980 and 1992.
By means of cluster-analysis eight benthos assemblages could be identified and described, the number of which declined from 1968
(7) through 1992 (3). This loss of assemblage diversities
presumably indicates an environmental deterioration without direct
reasons being recognisable. It was accompanied by a shift of
individual species distribution and of the whole estuarine benthic
community in the upstream direction which clearly is induced by a
long-term increase of salinity. Two of the most conspicuous changes were 1) A strong decrease of the Brackishwater algae
Vaucheria sp. in the period 1968 to 1980 which, as could be ascertained, was not an effect of the wastes from TiO2-production,
and 2) an immigration of the Polychaete Marenzelleria c.f. wireni since 1986, which is a new species in many Estuaries of the
southern North Sea.
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Tags
- makrozoobenthos-terminstation-daueruntersuchung-eulitoral-besiedlungsdichte-abundanz-artenzusammensetzung-biomasse-nlwkn-blmp-kronos-titan-werk-mesohalinic-mesohalinicum-macrozoobenthos-biomass-abundance
- wesermündung-weser-weser-estuary