Further Investigations of the effects of the Nella Dan oil spill at Macquarie Island: Have benthic communities recovered?

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 756 See the link below for public details on this project.

From the abstract of one of the referenced papers:

The shore environments of most sub-Antarctic islands have been described in a number of previous studies. However there have been few attempts to quantify the population and community patterns over different spatial scales. The objectives of this study were to provide an analysis of the differences in the community structure of the biota of three exposed shore zones and of the macrofauna inhabiting holdfasts of the kelp Durvillaea antarctica across spatial scales of hundreds of metres, kilometers, and between a sheltered and exposed coast. Data were collected using a combination of quadrat, transect and direct sampling methods over the 1994-95 summer season. The results indicated that there were significant differences between coast for some of the biotic variables in most of the habitats examined but that differences at the smaller spatial scales were more often significant. Thus, although wave exposure exerts an obvious effect on the shore biota of Macquarie Island, these effects are modified by other factors operating at smaller spatial scales. For the holdfast macrofauna, the overall patterns of community structure are likely to be due to the differential response of the component taxa to variation in holdfast volume and holdfast sediment content as well as other, currently undetermined factors.

本数据集的元数据记录来自ASAC 756项目（ASAC Project 756），有关该项目的公开详情请参阅下方链接。

以下来自所引用论文之一的摘要：

此前已有多项研究对多数亚南极岛屿（sub-Antarctic islands）的海岸环境展开了描述，但鲜有研究尝试量化不同空间尺度下的种群与群落格局。本研究的目标为，针对三种暴露型潮间带岸带的生物群落结构差异，以及栖息于南极牛舌藻（Durvillaea antarctica）固着器（holdfasts）内的大型底栖动物，在数百米、千米级空间尺度，以及隐蔽岸带与暴露岸带的梯度上开展分析。本研究于1994至1995年夏季，结合样方（quadrat）、样带（transect）与直接采样三种方法完成数据采集。

研究结果显示，在所调查的多数生境中，部分生物变量在不同岸带间存在显著差异，但更小空间尺度上的差异往往更具统计学显著性。因此，尽管波浪暴露程度对麦夸里岛（Macquarie Island）的海岸生物群落具有显著影响，但这类影响会受到更小空间尺度下其他作用因子的调控。对于固着器内的大型底栖动物而言，其群落结构的整体格局，大概率源于各分类类群对固着器体积、沉积物含量变化的差异化响应，以及其他目前尚未明确的作用因子。