Benthic Macroinvertebrate Population Distributions in Relation to the C. P. Crane Power Plant Thermal Discharge

摘要

Benthic macroinvertebrates (0.5 mm sieve) were sampled quarterly during the period June 1979-April 1980 in the oligohaline habitat in the vicinity of the C. P. Crane Generating Station, and in three reference areas in tributaries of Chesapeake Bay. Communities were distinguished according to sediment type (sand vs mud groups) and water depth (creek vs river-bay assemblages). The mud community in the immediate power plant discharge zone exhibited late summer depressions of numbers of species, species diversity, and species richness. On the species level five types of responses to the discharge were suggested by spatial and temporal distributions.