Since colonial times, anthropogenic effects have eroded Chesapeake Bay’s health, resulting in an increase in the extent and severity of hypoxia (≤2 mg O2 l−1), adversely affecting community structure and secondary production of macrobenthos in the Bay and its tributaries. The influence of hypoxia on macrobenthic communities is well documented, but less well known is the regulatory effect of hyp...

Changes in soft-bottom macrobenthic communities and the effects of anthropogenic disturbances were studied. We compared biological and environmental samples during and after bridge construction (DBC and ABC). Significant differences were detected in sediment composition at three stations, although hydrographic conditions were similar for DBC and ABC samples. From DBC to ABC, the number of speci...

Soft bottom macrobenthic communities were studied seasonally in three coastal ponds (Marinello ponds, Italy) at increasing distances from a gull (Larus michahellis) colony to investigate the effect of seabird-induced eutrophication (i.e. guanotrophication) on macrobenthic fauna. We hypothesized that enhanced nutrient concentration and organic load caused by guano input significantly alter the t...

We examined Cu contamination effects on macrobenthic communities and Cu concentration in invertebrates within Shelter Island Yacht Basin, San Diego Bay, California. Results indicate that at some sites, Cu in sediment has exceeded a threshold for "self defense" mechanisms and highlight the potential negative impacts on benthic faunal communities where Cu accumulates and persists in sediments. At...

Nematodes occur regularly in macrobenthic samples but are rarely identified from them and are thus considered exclusively a part of the meiobenthos. Our study compares the generic composition of nematode communities and their individual body weight trends with water depth in macrobenthic (>250/300 µm) samples from the deep Arctic (Canada Basin), Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the Bermuda slope with m...

By bioturbating and bio-irrigating the sea floor, macrobenthic organisms transport organic matter and oxygen from the surface to deeper layers, thereby extending the habitat suitable for smaller infauna. Next to these engineering activities, competition, disturbance and predation may also affect the spatial distribution of these smaller organisms. In a controlled laboratory experiment, we studi...

We assessed the effects of hypoxia on macrobenthic communities in the York and Rappahannock Rivers, Chesapeake Bay, in box-core samples before and after hypoxic episodes in 2003 and 2004. Hypoxia occurred in both years and was associated with a decrease in biomass and a shift in community structure toward opportunistic species in both rivers. Long-term data indicate that the frequency of hypoxi...

Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay has substantially increased in recent decades, with detrimental effects on macrobenthic production; the production of these fauna link energy transfer from primary consumers to epibenthic and demersal predators. As such, the development of accurate predictive models that determine the impact of hypoxia on macrobenthic production is important. A continuous-time, biomass...

We studied changes in macrobenthic communities following the environmental clean-up of metal-polluted (cadmium, nickel, and cobalt) sediments in Foundry Cove, a small inlet within the Hudson River estuary of New York. We used a BACI-style experiment to test the hypotheses that high levels of cadmium in sediments change macrobenthic assemblages relative to unpolluted areas, and removal of metals...

Exposed sandy beaches are highly dynamic ecosystems where macroinvertebrate species cope with extremely variable environmental conditions. The majority of the beach ecology studies present exposed beaches as physically dominated ecosystems where abiotic factors largely determine the structure and distribution of macrobenthic communities. However, beach species patterns at different scales can b...