Benthic prey quantity and quality in the main mudflat feeding areas of the Tagus Estuary: Implications for bird and fish populations

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Main Author: I Cardoso
Format: Artículo científico
Language:en
Published: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California 2008
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author I Cardoso
author_facet I Cardoso
contents Benthic prey quantity and quality in the main mudflat feeding areas of the Tagus Estuary: Implications for bird and fish populations I Cardoso JP Granadeiro H Cabral Ciencias de la Tierra mudflats heavy metals Contamination Tagus Estuary macrobenthic community Estuaries are among the most productive environments in the coastal zone that may act as sink of pollutants. In this study we evaluated how levels of heavy metal contamination can be reflected in the macroinvertebrate communities of six Tagus Estuary mudflats, inferring their consequences to upper trophic levels. We used Shannon-Wiener is diversity, Pielou is evenness andSimpson is dominance indices, and macroinvertebrate densities to characterize benthic communities at the sites that presented different metal contamination loads. Those stations with high levels of contamination presented a lower diversity but also the highest prey density. This study indicated that unhealthy areas can still perform their ecosystem function with costs that remain to be evaluated. The biodiversity can be impoverished compared with other less contaminated sites, but with regard to their utilization as feeding areas by birds and fishes this is not a limiting factor. For this particular function of the mudflats, prey availability is the main characteristic determining the choice of one particular site as a bird and fish feeding area that may not be affected by heavy metal contamination. 2008 artículo científico 0185-3880 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=48034302 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=480 Ciencias Marinas application/pdf Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Ciencias Marinas (México) Num.3 Vol.34
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_48034302
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2008
publisher Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
spellingShingle Benthic prey quantity and quality in the main mudflat feeding areas of the Tagus Estuary: Implications for bird and fish populations
I Cardoso
Ciencias de la Tierra
mudflats
heavy metals
Contamination
Tagus Estuary
macrobenthic community
Benthic prey quantity and quality in the main mudflat feeding areas of the Tagus Estuary: Implications for bird and fish populations I Cardoso JP Granadeiro H Cabral Ciencias de la Tierra mudflats heavy metals Contamination Tagus Estuary macrobenthic community Estuaries are among the most productive environments in the coastal zone that may act as sink of pollutants. In this study we evaluated how levels of heavy metal contamination can be reflected in the macroinvertebrate communities of six Tagus Estuary mudflats, inferring their consequences to upper trophic levels. We used Shannon-Wiener is diversity, Pielou is evenness andSimpson is dominance indices, and macroinvertebrate densities to characterize benthic communities at the sites that presented different metal contamination loads. Those stations with high levels of contamination presented a lower diversity but also the highest prey density. This study indicated that unhealthy areas can still perform their ecosystem function with costs that remain to be evaluated. The biodiversity can be impoverished compared with other less contaminated sites, but with regard to their utilization as feeding areas by birds and fishes this is not a limiting factor. For this particular function of the mudflats, prey availability is the main characteristic determining the choice of one particular site as a bird and fish feeding area that may not be affected by heavy metal contamination. 2008 artículo científico 0185-3880 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=48034302 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=480 Ciencias Marinas application/pdf Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Ciencias Marinas (México) Num.3 Vol.34
title Benthic prey quantity and quality in the main mudflat feeding areas of the Tagus Estuary: Implications for bird and fish populations
topic Ciencias de la Tierra
mudflats
heavy metals
Contamination
Tagus Estuary
macrobenthic community
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=48034302