대형무척추동물 상위분류군 수준의 동정 자료를 이용한 오염평가: 가막만의 예

Abstract

Although surveys of soft-bottom macrofauna are an important tool in assessing marine pollution, identifying organisms to the species level is time-consuming and therefore costly. One solution is to identify organisms to a higher taxonomic level. This study, using data from macrobenthic surveys in Gamak Bay, on the southern coast of Korea, shows that abundances measured at higher taxonomic levels than species can be adequate for pollution assessments. Second-stage MDS and BIO-ENV showed that aggregation of data to the level of family produces results that are close to those based on species-level identification. In severely polluted areas, a W statistic based on order-level aggregation was identical to that produced by species-level identification. Although these results could be used to make a general recommendation that the family level, at least, is a suitable level for faunal identification in pollution assessments, this will to a large extent depend on the objectives of each individual investigation. In surveys to assess pollution, nonetheless, analyzing the benthic community at a higher taxonomic level than species is efficient and cost-effective, and is sufficient to accomplish the assessment’s objectiveevel. This study, using data from macrobenthic surveys in Gamak Bay, on the southern coast of Korea, shows that abundances measured at higher taxonomic levels than species can be adequate for pollution assessments. Second-stage MDS and BIO-ENV showed that aggregation of data to the level of family produces results that are close to those based on species-level identification. In severely polluted areas, a W statistic based on order-level aggregation was identical to that produced by species-level identification. Although these results could be used to make a general recommendation that the family level, at least, is a suitable level for faunal identification in pollution assessments, this will to a large extent depend on the objectives of each individual investigation. In surveys to assess pollution, nonetheless, analyzing the benthic community at a higher taxonomic level than species is efficient and cost-effective, and is sufficient to accomplish the assessment’s objective