Click
here to close Hello! We notice that
you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Echinobase
and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a
current version of Chrome,
FireFox,
or Safari.
PLoS One
2013 Jul 12;87:e68313. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068313.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
Changes in benthos associated with mussel (Mytilus edulis L.) farms on the west-coast of Scotland.
Wilding TA
,
Nickell TD
.
???displayArticle.abstract???
Aquaculture, as a means of food production, is growing rapidly in response to an increasing demand for protein and the over-exploitation of wild fisheries. This expansion includes mussels (family Mytilidae) where production currently stands at 1.5 million tonnes per annum. Mussel culture is frequently perceived as having little environmental impact yet mussel biodeposits and shell debris accumulate around the production site and are linked to changes in the benthos. To assess the extent and nature of changes in benthos associated with mussel farming grab and video sampling around seven mussel farms was conducted. Grab samples were analysed for macrofauna and shell-hash content whilst starfish were counted and the shell-hash cover estimated from video imaging. Shell-hash was patchily distributed and occasionally dominated sediments (maximum of 2116 g per 0.1 m(2) grab). Mean shell-hash content decreased rapidly at distances >5 m from the line and, over the distance 1-64 m, decreased by three orders of magnitude. The presence of shell-hash and the distance-from-line influenced macrofaunal assemblages but this effect differed between sites. There was no evidence that mussel farming was associated with changes in macrobenthic diversity, species count or feeding strategy. However, total macrofaunal count was estimated to be 2.5 times higher in close proximity to the lines, compared with 64 m distance, and there was evidence that this effect was conditional on the presence of shell-hash. Starfish density varied considerably between sites but, overall, they were approximately 10 times as abundant close to the mussel-lines compared with 64 m distance. There was no evidence that starfish were more abundant in the presence of shell-hash visible on the sediment surface. In terms of farm-scale benthic impacts these data suggest that mussel farming is a relatively benign way of producing food, compared with intensive fish-farming, in similar environments.
???displayArticle.pubmedLink???
23874583
???displayArticle.pmcLink???PMC3709992 ???displayArticle.link???PLoS One
Figure 1. Sampling sites.Sampling sites in Creran (C1 and C2), Etive (E1 and E2), Leven (L1) and Spelve (S1 and S2). The central map (left) shows Scotland, the area within the box is shown on the right. The sampled farm sites are shown in the large-scale maps, all 1∶50,000 (scale bar shown in Etive applies to all large-scale maps). Latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes (WGS84) are shown on the larger scale maps. The location of the laboratory (‘SAMS’) is shown in the central map (right).
Figure 2. MDS relationship between assemblage, loch, distance-code and shell-hash content (bubble size).Note: a single ordination was first obtained which split the Sites into two distinct groups: (A) Creran and Spelve and (B) Etive and Leven which were analysed as MDS subsets. Bubble size indicates hash content (in g per grab), Code: C – Creran, E – Etive, L – Leven, S – Spelve, 1st number is the site (e.g. C1 is Creran 1 except for Leven where there was only one site), the second number is the distance code (1 is the closest to the mussel line; see methods). Note that the bubble scaling differs between the figures.
Figure 3. GAMM model illustrating shell-hash (Hash) as a function of distance (Dist).The rug on the bottom axis illustrates sample positions. The solid line indicates the model predictions with 95% confidence intervals shown as dashed lines.
Figure 4. Total macrofaunal abundance predictions from alternative models.(A) Model 1: relationship between total faunal abundance and Distance (log2 scale) at 1000 g per hash per grab (light lines) and 50 g hash per grab (heavy lines) respectively. Model 2 (B) total abundance as a function of distance. The total abundance has been back transformed from the loge scale used in the model. For both models, the solid line indicates the model predictions with 95% confidence intervals shown as dashed lines.
Figure 5. The relationship between log (number of starfish +1) per 10 m2 in different lochs (A) and compared with shell-hash score (B).The median abundance is indicated by the horizontal line within the box (interquartile range), upper and lower serifs represent the upper and lower adjacent values.
Figure 6. Mixed model predicted (solid line) numbers of starfish v. distance.Predictions are back-transformed. The dashed line represents the 95% confidence interval.
Conlan,
Benthic changes during 10 years of organic enrichment by McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
2004, Pubmed
Conlan,
Benthic changes during 10 years of organic enrichment by McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
2004,
Pubmed
Hartstein,
Effect of biodeposits from mussel culture on macroinvertebrate assemblages at sites of different hydrodynamic regime.
2004,
Pubmed
Kalantzi,
Benthic impacts of fish farming: meta-analysis of community and geochemical data.
2006,
Pubmed
Mayor,
Factors affecting benthic impacts at Scottish fish farms.
2010,
Pubmed
Wilding,
Changes in sedimentary redox associated with mussel (Mytilus edulis L.) farms on the west-coast of Scotland.
2012,
Pubmed