Effects of Sabella spallanzanii physical structure on soft sediment macrofaunal assemblages: effects on colonisation

The introduced European polychaete Sabella spallanzanii has become a dominant feature of sub-tidal habitats in south-eastern Australia. This study examines the physical effects of Sabella spallanzanii on macrofaunal assembleges of soft sediments. Macrofaunal assemblages were compared in the presence and absence of real and mimic S. spallanzanni clumps within sub-tidal experimental plots at Clifton Springs, Bellarine Peninsula, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. The effects of S. spallanzanii on: i) existing macrofaunal assemblage; ii) distribution of larvae and iii) colonisation of macrofauna were tested. This dataset gives the colonisation of macrofauna in trays of sediments which had been defaunated and embedded in sediments within plots of undisturbed sediment (Control) and plots that contained a single clump of 15 S. spallanzanii individuals (Sabella). Sediment trays were colonised predominantly by crustaceans, representing 91% of all individuals found. The presence of Sabella clumps resulted in a significantly higher colonisation of Cylindroleberidid ostracods, but no other effects were detected.

外来引入的欧洲多毛类斯氏帚毛虫（Sabella spallanzanii）现已成为澳大利亚东南部潮下带栖息地的优势类群。本研究旨在探究斯氏帚毛虫对软沉积物大型底栖动物群落的物理影响。研究人员于维多利亚州菲利普港湾贝拉林半岛克利夫顿斯普林斯的潮下带实验样地内，分别设置真实斯氏帚毛虫簇、模拟斯氏帚毛虫簇以及无帚毛虫的实验组，对比各组的大型底栖动物群落差异。本研究针对斯氏帚毛虫的三类影响展开测试：① 对现有大型底栖动物群落的影响；② 对幼虫分布的影响；③ 对大型底栖动物定殖的影响。本数据集记录了经去底栖动物处理的沉积物托盘的大型底栖动物定殖情况：该托盘被嵌入未受干扰的沉积物样地（对照组）与含有15个斯氏帚毛虫个体单簇的样地（帚毛虫组）的沉积物中。沉积物托盘内的定殖生物以甲壳类为主，占所有采集个体总数的91%。帚毛虫簇的存在显著提升了圆柱介形虫科（Cylindroleberididae）介形类的定殖量，但未检测到其他显著影响。