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.

引入自欧洲的多毛纲环节动物萨氏帚毛虫（Sabella spallanzanii）现已成为澳大利亚东南部潮下栖息地的优势类群。本研究探讨了萨氏帚毛虫对软沉积物大型底栖动物群落的物理影响。研究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实验样地中开展，通过设置真实萨氏帚毛虫丛、模拟萨氏帚毛虫丛以及无该生物的对照条件，对比了不同样地内的大型底栖动物群落结构。本研究针对萨氏帚毛虫的三项效应展开测试：i）对现有大型底栖动物群落的影响；ii）对幼虫分布的影响；iii）对大型底栖动物定殖过程的影响。本数据集记录了脱除原有底栖生物的沉积物托盘的大型底栖动物定殖情况，该托盘被安置于两类实验样地中：一类为未受扰动的沉积物对照样地（Control），另一类为植入15株萨氏帚毛虫单丛的样地（Sabella）。沉积物托盘的定殖生物以甲壳动物为主，占所有采集个体总数的91%。萨氏帚毛虫丛的存在显著提升了圆柱介科介形类的定殖丰度，但未检测到对其他类群的显著效应。