Data_Sheet_1_Determining the Ecological Status of Benthic Coastal Communities: A Case in an Anthropized Sub-Arctic Area.docx

With the widespread influence of human activities on marine ecosystems, evaluation of ecological status provides valuable information for conservation initiatives and sustainable development. To this end, many environmental indicators have been developed worldwide and there is a growing need to evaluate their performance by calculating ecological status in a wide range of ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This study calculated and contrasted sixteen indicators of ecological status from three methodological categories: abundance measures, diversity parameters and characteristic species. This selection was applied to coastal benthic ecosystems at Sept-Îles (Québec, Canada), an important industrial harbor area in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and related to habitat parameters (organic matter, grain size fractions, and heavy metal concentrations). Nearly all indicators highlighted a generally good ecological status in the study area, where communities presented an unperturbed profile with high taxa and functional diversities and without the dominance of opportunistic taxa. Some correlations with habitat parameters were detected, especially with heavy metals, and bootstrap analyses indicated quite robust results. This study provides valuable information on the application of environmental indicators in Canadian coastal ecosystems, along with insights on their use for environmental assessments.

随着人类活动对海洋生态系统的影响日益广泛，生态状况评估可为保护举措与可持续发展提供重要参考依据。为此，全球范围内已开发出诸多环境指标，且愈发需要通过在多时空尺度下的各类生态系统中计算生态状况，来评估这些指标的应用效能。本研究针对三类方法学范畴下的16项生态状况指标展开计算与对比分析，这三类范畴分别为丰度测度、多样性参数以及特征物种。本研究将这套指标体系应用于加拿大魁北克省圣劳伦斯湾重要工业港区——塞普蒂莱斯（Sept-Îles）的沿海底栖（benthic）生态系统，并将指标结果与栖息地参数（有机质、粒度分级以及重金属浓度）进行关联分析。几乎所有指标均显示研究区域整体生态状况良好，该区域的生物群落呈现出未受干扰的特征：具有较高的分类群与功能多样性，且不存在机会主义类群的优势现象。研究发现部分指标与栖息地参数存在相关性，尤以与重金属的关联最为显著；自举（bootstrap）分析结果显示该研究结论具有较强的稳健性。本研究为环境指标在加拿大沿海生态系统中的应用提供了重要参考，同时也为环境评估中这类指标的合理使用提供了借鉴思路。