LI Beixing, LI Aoxue, DONG Jianyu, LYU Shaoliang, WANG Xuefeng. Intertidal macrozoobenthic community structure and its disturbed state in Zhanjiang Bay[J]. South China Fisheries Science, 2023, 19(2): 12-20. DOI: 10.12131/20220199
Citation: LI Beixing, LI Aoxue, DONG Jianyu, LYU Shaoliang, WANG Xuefeng. Intertidal macrozoobenthic community structure and its disturbed state in Zhanjiang Bay[J]. South China Fisheries Science, 2023, 19(2): 12-20. DOI: 10.12131/20220199

Intertidal macrozoobenthic community structure and its disturbed state in Zhanjiang Bay

  • Macrozobenthos are ideal indicators for monitoring and evaluating the ecological environment of intertidal zones. Zhanjiang Bay is the largest harbor in western Guangdong. In order to reveal the characteristics and disturbed state of macrobenthos communities in the intertidal zone of Zhanjiang Bay as well as to provide a scientific basis for their ecological protection, we investigated five intertidal zones (Donghai Island, Dongtoushan Island, Luzhu Village, Techeng Island and Zhanjiang Bay Bridge) exposed to different anthropogenic pressures in Zhanjiang Bay in August 2020 (Summer) and January 2021 (Winter). We analyzed the species composition, distribution of abundance and biomass, and biodiversities of macrozobenthos. Besides, we studied the disturbed state of macrozoobenthos communities by using the taxonomic diversity indexes and Abundance-biomass comparison (ABC) curves. The results show that: 1) A total of 98 species appeared in the five intertidal zones, among which Mollusca (45 species) were the most, followed by Arthropoda (26 species) and Annelida (19 species). 2) The average abundance and biomass of the macrozoobenthos were all greater in winter (187 ind·m−2, 188.38 g·m−2) than in summer (174 ind·m−2, 171.27 g·m−2). The mollusk Lucina scarlatoi and the arthropod Fistulobalanus albicostatus were the dominant species both in summer and winter. 3) Bray-Curtis similarity clustering analysis on the communities and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) suggest that the communities in the five intertidal zones in summer and winter could be spatially clustered into four groups. Among them, Luzhu Village and Zhanjiang Bay Bridge formed a subgroup, Dongtoushan Island and Techeng Island formed a subgroup, and Donghai Island formed a subgroup in summer and winter. 4) The taxonomic diversity index and ABC curves show some differences in evaluating the anthropogenic stresses on the intertidal macrozoobenthic community in Zhanjiang Bay. Furthermore, the taxonomic diversity index shows that Dongtoushan Island and Zhanjiang Bay Bridge were affected by tourism, and were more severely disturbed in winter, while the ABC curves show that Luzhu Village was affected by shellfish farming and was more severely disturbed in summer. The study reveals that human activities have had a negative impact on the macrozoobenthic communities in the intertidal zones of Zhanjiang Bay.
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