Meiofaunal community and eco-environment quality evaluation in mangroves off Chaoshan coastal zone
Mangroves are a crucial ecological barrier for coastal zones,and sensitive areas to climate change and human activities,where benthic fauna responds directly to the sedimentary environment because of their intimate contact and relatively fixed settlement habitats.In-situ observations and sample collections were carried out at 7 stations in the mangrove area off the Chaoshan coastal zone,in April 2021,for further analysis of the sediment-ary environment,meiofaunal communities,and eco-environment quality evaluation.A total of 15 meiofauna groups were identified.Free-living marine nematodes were the most dominant group,accounting for 90.32％of the total abundance of meiofauna;while polychaetes were the first in biomass(58.44％).The average abundance of meiofauna was slightly higher than that of the other mangrove forests.The spatial pattern of the meiofaunal abund-ance exhibited a similar distribution trend to that of the abundance of nematodes and the content of chlorophyll a(Chl a),phaeophorbide,organic carbon,and heavy metals(Cd,Zn,Cu,Cr,and Hg):all the parameters showed the highest values in the northern of the Lianyang River,and decreased towards the south and north.Meiofaunal com-munities in different patches shared a high similarity of 70％,and the best explanation factor for the differences in the meiofauna community was the content of heavy metal Pb.The abundance ratio of marine nematodes to cope-pods(N/C),the possible ecological risk index,and the sediment quality grading all indicated a poor environmental state in the area investigated.
mangrovemeiofaunaheavy metals pollutionecological evaluationChaoshan coastal zone
万方数据
维普
