Shallow sublittoral meiofauna communities and sediment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content on the Galician coast (NW Spain), six months after the Prestige oil spill

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2009

Authors

P Veiga (Author) Other; M Rubal (Author) Other; Besteiro, C (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Marine Pollution Bulletin

Vol. 58

Pages: 581-588

ISSN: 0025-326X

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 13 Citations

Scopus - 7 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-M8R

DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.11.002

Abstract (EN): The aim of this work was to detect the impact of Prestige oil spill on meiobenthic community structure at higher levels of taxonomic aggregation. In addition, the relationship between sediment individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration and meiofauna community structure was investigated. Six months after the Prestige oil spill, meiobenthos community and sediment PAHs content from seven shallow subtidal localities along the Galician coast were studied. Two sites presented differences in community structure, characterized by high densities of nematodes, gastrotrichs and turbellarians, and low densities of copepods. Chrysene and triphenylene were only found at these two disturbed sites and could be responsible for differences of meiobenthos community structure. However, differences in community structure of sites could be linked with sedimentary parameters, and discrimination between the effect of PAHs and sedimentary parameters was impossible due to the lack of baseline studies on meiobenthos and PAHs contents in this area.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8