A manipulative field experiment examining the effect of heavy metal and hydrocarbon contaminated sediment on the recruitment of soft-sediment infauna.

The effects of hyrdocarbon and heavy metal contamination of marine sediments on recruitment of soft-sediment assemblages were examined in a field experiment at Casey Station, East Antarctica. Three locations were used, a polluted bay adjacent to an old disused tip site (Brown Bay) and two control locations (O'Brien Bay and Sparkes Bay). At each location three types of defaunated sediment (hydrocarbon treated, heavy metal treated and control) were placed at approximately 15 m depth and left in place for 3 months, from December to February. Sediments were artificially contaminated with hydrocarbons and metals at concentrations which were representative of levels found in sediments at contaminated sites around Casey Station.
There were large differences in recruitment between the three locations and significant differences between the control and contaminated sediment. Sediments in the experiment were also examined for evidence of degradation and attenuation of hydrocarbons and heavy metals. A total of 104 recruitment samples were collected. Samples were sieved at 500 micro m and sorted mainly to species. Other work to arise from this experiment includes examination of the effects on diatom communities and microbial communities.
Data includes fauna, metals and hydrocarbon concentrations in experiment. Pre-deployment concentrations (before experiment was deployed in water) are indicated as 'pre-deployment'. Concentrations of contaminants in sediments surrounding the experiment (within several metres) are indicated as 'surrounding'.
This project also links to ASAC 1100.
The fields in this dataset are:
Location
Site
Treatment (tmt)
Site and replicate
Species
Toxicity
Arsenic
Cadmium
Copper
Lead
Silver
Zinc
Special Antarctic Blend Fuel (SAB)
Lube
TPH

Tags: AAS > Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry, AMD, AMD/AU, ANTARCTICA, ARSENIC, ASSEMBLAGE, BENTHIC, CADMIUM, CEOS, COMMUNITY, CONTAMINATION, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Brown Bay, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Casey Station, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > East Antarctica, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > O'Brien Bay, CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Sparkes Bay, COPPER, 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 > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > SPECIES LIFE HIS, 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 EXPERIMENT, FIELD INVESTIGATION, FIELD SURVEYS, GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS, GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR, HEAVY METALS, HUMAN IMPACT, HYDROCARBONS, LEAD, LOCATION, LUBE, MACROBENTHOS, MICROSCOPES, OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN, POLLUTION, RECOLONISATION, RECRUITMENT, SILVER, SITE, SITE AND REPLICATE, SPECIAL ANTARCTIC BLEND FUEL, SPECIES, TOXICITY, TPH, TREATMENT, ZINC
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network