Effects of wood waste on sand-bed benthos

Abstract

The impact on benthos of wood waste (abraded bark and wood) at an industrial log handling site was examined through the medium of the infauna of a shallow sand bed (depth 4–11 m). This sand bed supported a diverse biological community with abundant suspension-feeding polychaetes and bivalves, e.g. Mysella tumida, Mesochaetopterus taylori, Phyllochaetopterus prolifica. Deposition of more than a 1 cm layer of wood waste produced noticeable losses of these suspension feeders. The impact increased progressively with amount of waste deposited. The community inhabiting thickest deposits (up to 15 cm measured) had virtually lost the suspension feeding trophic pathway, was reduced in diversity and biomass, and was dominated by only a few abundant deposit-feeding crustaceans and polychaetes, e.g. Nebalia pugettensis and Dorvillea annulata.