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.

本数据集为ASAC 756号项目的相关元数据记录，该项目的公开详情可通过下方链接查阅。以下为所引用论文之一的摘要内容：此前已有多项研究对多数亚南极岛屿的海岸环境开展了描述，但针对不同空间尺度下的种群与群落格局进行定量分析的尝试仍较为匮乏。本研究旨在分析三处潮间带暴露岸带的生物群落结构差异，以及在数百米、千米级空间尺度、隐蔽海岸与暴露海岸之间，栖息于南极牛舌藻（Durvillaea antarctica）固着器（holdfast）中的大型底栖动物（macrofauna）的群落结构差异。研究数据于1994-1995年夏季通过样方（quadrat）、样带（transect）与直接采样相结合的方式采集获取。研究结果显示，在所调查的多数生境中，部分生物变量在两类海岸间存在显著差异，但更小空间尺度下的群落差异往往更为显著。由此可见，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，但该影响会受到更小空间尺度下其他作用因素的调控。针对固着器内的大型底栖动物而言，其群落结构的整体格局可能源于各分类群对固着器体积、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素。