Increasing misalignment of spatial resolution between investigative and disturbance scales alters observed responses of an infaunal community to varying disturbance severities

Abstract

On the northern coast of British Columbia, Canada, we used the infaunal invertebrate community (meiofauna) of the Cassiar Cannery mudflat to assess responses to different severities of a mechanical disturbance. Overall, the infaunal community was effective in identifying if a disturbance had occurred, regardless of disturbance severity. However, considerable overlap was observed between infaunal communities in disturbed and reference habitat. Variation between disturbed and reference habitats was primarily the result of differences in the relative abundances of five taxa (Oligochaeta, Nematoda, Nippoleucon hinumensis, Capitella species complex, and Macoma balthica). Conversely, the infaunal community was not an effective tool in differentiating between disturbance severities, likely because of the subtle differences observed between infaunal successional stages. We also assessed how increasing misalignment of spatial resolution between sampling and disturbance scales influenced analytical findings. As misalignment between the scale of disturbance and investigation increased, Type I and Type II errors became more common in our analyses. Our findings indicate that intertidal infaunal communities can be effectively used to study the influence of disturbances upon an ecological system. However, care must be taken to ensure the proper sampling scheme is used, one that overlaps with the scale of disturbance. These findings expand our understanding of how communities respond to disturbance and will be of interest to anyone attempting to study, detect, or mediate anthropogenic and natural disturbances.