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源自ASAC项目756，有关该项目的公开详情请参阅下方链接。

以下引自所引用的一篇论文的摘要：

多数亚南极岛屿的近岸环境已在多项既往研究中得到描述，但针对不同空间尺度下的种群与群落模式开展量化分析的尝试仍较为匮乏。本研究旨在分析三个暴露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（holdfast）中的大型底栖动物（macrofauna）在百米、千米级空间尺度，以及遮蔽岸带与暴露岸带之间的群落结构差异。

研究于1994-1995年夏季期间，通过样方（quadrat）、样带（transect）与直接采样相结合的方式完成数据采集。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，但更小空间尺度下的差异往往更为显著。由此可见，尽管波浪暴露程度对麦夸里岛的近岸生物群落具有显著影响，但这一效应会受到更小空间尺度下其他作用因素的调控。对于固着器中的大型底栖动物群落而言，其整体群落结构模式可能源于各组成类群对固着器体积、固着器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。