Response of Intertidal Meiofaunal Communities to Heavy Metal Contamination in Laboratory Microcosm Experiments

Abstract

The purpose of the this study was to investigate the effects of the heavy metals copper and zinc on the density of meiofauna, dominant taxa and the composition of nematode communities using microcosm experiments. The sediments were treated with different heavy metal concentrations. All experiments were terminated after 30 days. The meiofaunal composition was dominated by harpacticoids. After 10 days of experiment, the density of total meiofauna in the control microcosm changed only slightly. However, the density in most microcosms treated with heavy metals gradually decreased until the end of the experiment. A significant decline in meiofaunal and harpacticoid density was observed in the CuM and CuH microcosms (one way analysis of variance, p < 0.05). The density fluctuations of harpacticoids were similar to those of total meiofauna. The nematode densities in the control and treatment microcosms generally decreased throughout the experiment; however, there was no significant difference between these values before and after the addition of Cu and Zn.