Changes in the ecological balance of invertebrate communities in kelp holdfast habitats of some polluted North Sea waters

Abstract

1. This paper presents a thirty-one month study of a neotenous invertebrate community which developed inLaminaria hyperborea holdfasts in some polluted waters of the North Sea (northeast England und southwest Scotland). 2. Sixty miles of open coastal waters and approximately thirty miles of the Forth Estuary are affected by pollutants. 3. Reduction in the species diversity leaves only one possible detritus food chain in the habitat. 4. This simple community is not in balance. 5. The ecology of the polluted water community is considered and the possible long-term effects of pollution in the kelp forest are discussed.