There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
An artificial channel was opened in 1994 between the microtidal Peel-Harvey Estuary
and the Indian Ocean to increase tidal exchange and thus ameliorate the problems of
eutrophication. Although this greatly reduced macroalgal and cyanobacterial growths
and the amount of particulate organic matter, our data indicate that, contrary to
managerial expectations, the benthic environment has deteriorated. Thus, although
macroinvertebrate density has declined as predicted, taxonomic distinctness (Delta(
*)) has also declined and species composition has become more variable. Macroinvertebrate
composition has also changed markedly at the species, family and even phylum levels.
The Crustacea, the most sensitive of the major macrobenthic taxa to environmental
stress, has become proportionally less abundant and speciose, whereas the Polychaeta,
the least sensitive, was unique in showing the reverse trend. The benthos of the Peel-Harvey
Estuary is thus apparently more stressed than previously, probably due to the multiple
effects of a great increase in system use.