Distance from the primary dredging activity relationships.

Shown are results for 11 turbidity (NTU) based water quality metrics for the Cape Lambert (A) and Burrup peninsula (B) projects. The notation of P80 and P95 represents the 80th and 95th percentiles. Shown are the ‘best’ model as selected by AICc (see methods for more details), R2 values, along with estimated distance of effects (Distance) and power decay functions (Equation; in the form a.d-b, where d is distance from the primary dredging activity), divided into spatial components where required according to the best model. The distance of effect values represent the distance at which the fitted curve falls below the 80th percentile of the baseline value (i.e. the dredging effect becomes negligible). Notation for the ‘best model’ are as follows: NS—a North versus South factor; EW—an East versus West fixed factor; Dr—a factor delineating the pre-dredge versus during dredging; Di—a continuous predictor representing the distance from dredging; Dep—a continuous predictor representing site depth; “:” indicates an interaction among the predictors.