TY - JOUR
T1 - Near-edge wrack effects on bare sediments
T2 - Small scale variation matters in the monitoring of sandy beaches
AU - MacMillan, Mitchell R.
AU - Tummon Flynn, Paula
AU - Duarte, Cristian
AU - Quijón, Pedro A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank an anonymous reviewer and the help of Tyler Wheeler, Cassandra Mellish, Bradley MacMillan, and Veronique Dufour during the field and laboratory work. MM, PTF and PAQ thank the support of UPEI and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada (NSERC). CD thanks The Millennium Nucleus Center for the Study of Multiple Drivers on Marine Socio-ecological Systems (MINECON NC120086).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - The influence of wrack on sandy beach communities is well-documented but its effect on bare sediments located immediately beyond its edge has not yet been tested. This study aimed to explore these effects by surveying bare sediments located at increasing distances (0.5–2 m) from the wrack in five sandy beaches on Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada. In addition, we tested the influence of wrack with a field manipulation using wrack patches made up of rockweed bundles. The survey indicated that a modest but significant number of amphipods and beetles occupied bare sediments located 0.5 m from the edge of the wrack, but that those numbers dropped in sediments 1 m away and farther. The outcome of the field manipulation showed a similar pattern. Although small in spatial scale, our results have implications for the monitoring sandy beaches affected by scattered as well as heavy wrack input.
AB - The influence of wrack on sandy beach communities is well-documented but its effect on bare sediments located immediately beyond its edge has not yet been tested. This study aimed to explore these effects by surveying bare sediments located at increasing distances (0.5–2 m) from the wrack in five sandy beaches on Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada. In addition, we tested the influence of wrack with a field manipulation using wrack patches made up of rockweed bundles. The survey indicated that a modest but significant number of amphipods and beetles occupied bare sediments located 0.5 m from the edge of the wrack, but that those numbers dropped in sediments 1 m away and farther. The outcome of the field manipulation showed a similar pattern. Although small in spatial scale, our results have implications for the monitoring sandy beaches affected by scattered as well as heavy wrack input.
KW - Beach amphipods and insects
KW - Macrofauna
KW - Prince Edward Island
KW - Small-scale variation
KW - Wrack edge
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84996599771&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.10.010
DO - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.10.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 27836189
AN - SCOPUS:84996599771
SN - 0141-1136
VL - 122
SP - 196
EP - 200
JO - Marine Environmental Research
JF - Marine Environmental Research
ER -