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The influence of water-sediment regulation on macrobenthic community structures in the Huanghe River (Yellow River) Estuary during 2012–2016

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Marine Resource and Environment Research Institute, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Restoration for Marine Ecology, Yantai, 264006, China

    Shaowen Li, Fan Li, **ukai Song & Mingliang Zhang

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  1. Shaowen Li
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  2. Fan Li
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  3. **ukai Song
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  4. Mingliang Zhang
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Correspondence to Shaowen Li.

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Foundation item

The Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation under contract No. ZR2018PD011; the Science and Technology Innovation Development Program of Yantai under contract No. 2020MSGY061; the National Key Research and Development Program of China under contract No. 2018YFC1407605.

Acknowlegements

We acknowledge Weijie Chen, Zhonghua Ren and Liangcheng Zhang for their assistance in field investigation and laboratory analysis.

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Li, S., Li, F., Song, X. et al. The influence of water-sediment regulation on macrobenthic community structures in the Huanghe River (Yellow River) Estuary during 2012–2016. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 39, 120–128 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-020-1664-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-020-1664-3

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