The influence of water-sediment regulation on macrobenthic community structures in the Huanghe River (Yellow River) Estu
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The influence of water-sediment regulation on macrobenthic community structures in the Huanghe River (Yellow River) Estuary during 2012–2016 Shaowen Li1*, Fan Li1, Xiukai Song1, Mingliang Zhang1 1 Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Restoration for Marine Ecology, Shandong Marine Resource and
Environment Research Institute, Yantai 264006, China Received 9 May 2020; accepted 14 July 2020 © Chinese Society for Oceanography and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
To determine if water-sediment regulation has affected macrobenthic community structure in the Huanghe River Estuary, China, macrobenthic samples were collected following regulation events from 2012 to 2016. We identify seven phyla and 138 macrobenthic species from within samples throughout the survey area, over time. Species richness and abundance in 2012 were significantly higher than in 2016. Biomass did not differ significantly during 2012–2016. Dominant species were mostly small polychaetes, with mollusks, arthropods, and echinoderms all being relatively rare. In 2016, dominant species were small polychaetes. MDS reveals macrobenthic communities at all surveyed distances from the estuary to have become the same community structure over time. ShannonWiener diversity and Margalef richness indexes trended down over time. CCA reveals the most dominant sediment-dwelling species to prefer lower dissolved oxygen, sulfides, and pH, and sediments with high D50 and low clay content. We speculate that water-sediment regulation has affected seabed communities, particularly Region A in our survey area. Key words: Huanghe River Estuary, macrobenthos, water-sediment regulation, community structure Citation: Li Shaowen, Li Fan, Song Xiukai, Zhang Mingliang. 2020. The influence of water-sediment regulation on macrobenthic community structures in the Huanghe River (Yellow River) Estuary during 2012–2016. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 39(10): 120–128, doi: 10.1007/s13131-020-1664-3
1 Introduction Estuarine ecosystems are important and fragile habitats, and provide important nutrients for marine organisms (Zhuang, 2006). Both natural and anthropogenic factors have dramatically changed estuarine ecosystems. For example, after decreased runoff and sediment into the sea, Nile Delta salinity increased rapidly and input of biogenic elements decreased, leading to a 95% reduction in phytoplankton biomass and an 80% reduction in catches (Walling, 2006). Due to serious siltation in the Huanghe River, the channel is now flushed by the strategic discharging of large reservoirs containing water and sediment in a process referred to as the Huanghe River water-sediment regulation (Li and Sheng, 2011). From 2002 to 2016, water-sediment regulation has occurred 14 times from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, increasing the flow in the lower Huanghe River from 1 800 m3/s to 4 000 m3/s. A few studies have reported that, during water-sediment regulation, salinity decreased rapidly in a short term and transport volume of nutrients reached about half of the year’s transp
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