Temporal and Spatial variability on rocky shore macrobenthic assemblages affected by an Hebei Spirit oil spill in Yellow Sea of Korea

Abstract

기름유출사고에 의한 암반 저서생물군집의 시공간적 변화 연구 We studied the impact of oil spill on rocky shore in the Yellow Sea of Korea. We chose a heavily impacted site, Padori, and a control site, Yonpo, and surveyed the sites every season from January 2008 to April 2011. In Padori, Crassostrea gigas population drastically decreased after the spill until January 2010. Since January 2010, C. gigas population started to recover gradually. The abundance of small sessile species and larvae utilized the space among C. gigas individuals also decreased. The spare space was populated by Littorina brevicula instead. In Yonpo, Chthamalus challengeri and L. brevicula were the most abundant. Recently, C. gigas population started to increase gradually. The abundance was the highest in summer every year. The most dominant species in both sites was C. challengeri. In Padori, C. challengeri population crashed since the spill; however it started to increase after October 2010. In Yonpo, the population gradually decreased until January 2009, dramatically increased until July 2010, and then began to decrease again since October 2010. In the same tidal level, community structures in the two sites were determined by abundance of dominant species rather than physical and environmental aspects, such as the magnitude of oil spill, seasonality and habitat type.season from January 2008 to April 2011. In Padori, Crassostrea gigas population drastically decreased after the spill until January 2010. Since January 2010, C. gigas population started to recover gradually. The abundance of small sessile species and larvae utilized the space among C. gigas individuals also decreased. The spare space was populated by Littorina brevicula instead. In Yonpo, Chthamalus challengeri and L. brevicula were the most abundant. Recently, C. gigas population started to increase gradually. The abundance was the highest in summer every year. The most dominant species in b