Assessment of ecosystem function following marine aggregate dredging
Assessment of ecosystem function following marine aggregate dredging
A number of indices designed to assess ecosystem function were applied to an existing benthic macrofaunal dataset collected following recent marine aggregate extraction activity at the Hastings Shingle Bank (UK). The objective of the study was to assess the use of these different functional metrics, some incorporating biological traits analysis, to investigate the rate of recovery in ecosystem function after dredging impact. All of the indices tested behaved in a broadly similar fashion following the aggregate extraction event, although some suggested faster rates of functional recovery than others. All indicated that the disturbed area of seabed was capable of full recovery given enough time. It is considered that this outcome may be because the physical nature of the seabed was unlikely to have been permanently altered by dredging for aggregate by the method used. This is not always the case following aggregate extraction and depends on the dredging protocol used (e.g., sediment screening). The indices tested (some applied for the first time to benthic macrofaunal data) were considered to be complementary to traditional environmental assessment metrics and each might be used under different circumstances. Crown
Dredging, Ecosystem function, Environmental assessment, Marine aggregate, Recovery
82-91
Cooper, Keith M.
66a5ede5-1e05-4ccd-8a41-4196febf06f3
Barrio Froján, Christopher R.S.
4935e7ee-ac0f-41bd-b00b-2c5806561d74
Defew, Emma
ad9f7afc-13b2-4063-ab1e-f7656efa2079
Curtis, Matthew
5fd09e84-5697-476c-b071-2d560c3e31e9
Fleddum, Annelise
23bbcdda-ab15-41f7-80ad-b6d14676b89f
Brooks, Lucy
68402f55-bba5-4fc2-9c95-f0438ea668ec
Paterson, David M.
67cad7f7-84c3-4f6b-8309-f54a7fd5da88
15 November 2008
Cooper, Keith M.
66a5ede5-1e05-4ccd-8a41-4196febf06f3
Barrio Froján, Christopher R.S.
4935e7ee-ac0f-41bd-b00b-2c5806561d74
Defew, Emma
ad9f7afc-13b2-4063-ab1e-f7656efa2079
Curtis, Matthew
5fd09e84-5697-476c-b071-2d560c3e31e9
Fleddum, Annelise
23bbcdda-ab15-41f7-80ad-b6d14676b89f
Brooks, Lucy
68402f55-bba5-4fc2-9c95-f0438ea668ec
Paterson, David M.
67cad7f7-84c3-4f6b-8309-f54a7fd5da88
Cooper, Keith M., Barrio Froján, Christopher R.S. and Defew, Emma
,
et al.
(2008)
Assessment of ecosystem function following marine aggregate dredging.
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 366 (1-2), .
(doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2008.07.011).
Abstract
A number of indices designed to assess ecosystem function were applied to an existing benthic macrofaunal dataset collected following recent marine aggregate extraction activity at the Hastings Shingle Bank (UK). The objective of the study was to assess the use of these different functional metrics, some incorporating biological traits analysis, to investigate the rate of recovery in ecosystem function after dredging impact. All of the indices tested behaved in a broadly similar fashion following the aggregate extraction event, although some suggested faster rates of functional recovery than others. All indicated that the disturbed area of seabed was capable of full recovery given enough time. It is considered that this outcome may be because the physical nature of the seabed was unlikely to have been permanently altered by dredging for aggregate by the method used. This is not always the case following aggregate extraction and depends on the dredging protocol used (e.g., sediment screening). The indices tested (some applied for the first time to benthic macrofaunal data) were considered to be complementary to traditional environmental assessment metrics and each might be used under different circumstances. Crown
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e-pub ahead of print date: 29 August 2008
Published date: 15 November 2008
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Firstly, the authors would like to acknowledge Professor John Gray as a highly cited scientist who has contributed greatly to this field of work. John was an inspiration and a careful worker, he will be sadly missed. This work was funded by the Marine Environmental Protection Fund (MEPF), the marine component of the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF). The authors gratefully acknowledge the various sources of traits data including the Biological Traits Information Catalogue (BIOTIC), an initiative of the Marine Biological Association (MBA), and the University of Oslo, where co-author Annelise Fleddum was employed whilst producing a traits database used in this study. The authors acknowledge the support by the MarBEF Network of Excellence 'Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning', which is funded by the Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems Programme of the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme (contract no. GOCE-CT-2003-505446). This paper is registered under MarBEF (ref: MPS-08019). [SS]
Keywords:
Dredging, Ecosystem function, Environmental assessment, Marine aggregate, Recovery
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Local EPrints ID: 479890
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479890
ISSN: 0022-0981
PURE UUID: 7d185013-89f7-4dc9-aa84-4ddf6d942d0c
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Date deposited: 28 Jul 2023 16:43
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:11
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Contributors
Author:
Keith M. Cooper
Author:
Christopher R.S. Barrio Froján
Author:
Emma Defew
Author:
Matthew Curtis
Author:
Annelise Fleddum
Author:
Lucy Brooks
Author:
David M. Paterson
Corporate Author: et al.
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