Survey of soft sediment assemblages around Casey Station (grab samples), Feb - Mar, 1997

Marine soft-sediment assemblages were sampled from shallow (5 - 35m) nearshore regions around Casey Station, Windmill Islands, East Antarctica in late summer (Feb-March) 1997, using a van-Veen grab (surface area 20 x 25 cm). Samples were sieved through a 1 mm mesh and sorted to species where possible. A hierarchical, spatially nested sampling design was used with locations (km's apart), sites (100s of metres apart), and plots (10s of m). Two potentially impacted, polluted locations (adjacent to a sewage outfall and an old garbage tip) were compared with two control locations. Data was analysed using both multivariate and univariate statistical methods. Significant differences in assemblages were found between locations and between sites within locations.

Significant differences in the abundances of taxa at several taxonomic levels (species, family, order, phylum) were found at all three spatial scales. Significant differences were also detected between the polluted and control locations. Compared with other Antarctic locations, the assemblages were dominated by crustaceans (90 to 97 % of individuals) and there was a paucity of polychaete fauna at the locations sampled. This study represents the first description of benthic assemblages from this region.

A total of 70 samples are included in this data set.

Also links to ASAC 1100.

The fields in this dataset are:

Location
Site
Plot/replicate
Weight
Volume
Species

Tags: AMD, AMD/AU, ASSEMBLAGE, BENTHIC, CEOS, COMMUNITY, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Beall Island, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Brown Bay, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Casey Station, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > East Antarctica, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Honkala Island, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Newcombe Bay, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > O'Brien Bay, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Shannon Bay, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > ARTHROPODS > CRUSTACEANS, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > ECHINODERMS, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > MOLLUSKS, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > SEGMENTED WORMS (ANNELIDS), EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > COMMUNITY DYNAMICS > COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > COMMUNITY DYNAMICS > SPECIES DOMINANCE INDICES, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > POPULATION DYNAM, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > COASTAL, EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS > CONTAMINANT LEVELS/SPILLS, EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS > HEAVY METALS CONCENTRATION, EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS > SEWAGE DISPOSAL, EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE ENVIRONMENT MONITORING > MARINE OBSTRUCTIONS, FIELD INVESTIGATION, FIELD SURVEYS, GARBAGE TIP, GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR, GRAB SAMPLERS, GRAB SAMPLES, HEAVY METALS, HUMAN IMPACT, LOCATION, MACROBENTHOS, MICROSCOPES, OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN, PLOT/REPLICATE, POLLUTION, SITE, SPECIES, VOLUME, WEIGHT
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network