Soft sediment assemblages at Casey Station: Brown Bay Grid - samples taken along a pollution gradient.

• Other Authors: RIDDLE, MARTIN J. (hasPrincipalInvestigator), STARK, JONATHAN SEAN (hasPrincipalInvestigator), STARK, JONATHAN SEAN (processor), CUNNINGHAM, LAURA KAY (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• Subjects: biota; environment; oceans; transportation; CONTAMINANT LEVELS/SPILLS; EARTH SCIENCE; HUMAN DIMENSIONS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; HEAVY METALS CONCENTRATION; SEWAGE DISPOSAL; MARINE OBSTRUCTIONS; MARINE ENVIRONMENT MONITORING; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION; CRUSTACEANS; ARTHROPODS; ECHINODERMS; MOLLUSKS; SEGMENTED WORMS (ANNELIDS); DIATOMS; PROTISTS; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC; COASTAL; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; POPULATION DYNAMICS; BIOSPHERE; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; SPECIES DOMINANCE INDICES; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; COMMUNITY STRUCTURE; ASSEMBLAGE; COMMUNITY; CORE SAMPLES; DISTANCE; HUMAN IMPACT; MACROBENTHOS; POLLUTION; POSITION; SITE AND REPLICATE; SPATIAL VARIATION; SPECIES; CORING DEVICES; MICROSCOPES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; FIELD SURVEYS; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > East Antarctica; Casey Station; Brown Bay; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/soft-sediment-assemblages-pollution-gradient/699754; https://doi.org/10.4225/15/59b0c42f7cf00; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_2201_Casey_benthic_BBG; http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536

A survey of macrobenthic assemblages in soft-sediments was done at Casey Station, East Antarctica. Samples were taken along four transects in Brown Bay, along a pollution gradient that has its source at an abandoned waste tip on the shore of Brown Bay. The transects were up to 300 M long and there were 9 sampling stations on each transect except for transect four which had only 4 sampling stations. Sampling stations were at the following distances from the shoreline and tip site: 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, 40 m, 50 m, 100 m, 150 m, 200 m, and 300 m. Two cores of the soft-sediment assemblages were taken at each sampling station and two cores for analysis of heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Samples were taken by divers using hand-held corers (fauna core size - 10 cm diameter by 10 cm deep; sediment analysis cores - 5 cm diam. by 10 cm deep). The aims were: 1) to determine the nature and extent of the contamination gradient in front of the tip site and; 2) to determine if there was a corresponding response in the soft-sediment assemblages along the contamination gradient. A total of 62 samples of soft-sediment assemblages and 62 samples for heavy metal and hydrocarbon analysis were taken. Sediment grain size was also examined at each sampling point. The benthic diatom communities were also analysed in each sample. Links to ASAC 1100. The fields in this dataset are: Distance Position Site and replicate Species