Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-m9pkr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T04:38:35.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The benthos of the deeper sediments of the Firth of Clyde, with particular reference to organic enrichment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

T. H. Pearson ,
A. D. Ansell  and
L. Robb
T. H. Pearson
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box No. 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
A. D. Ansell
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box No. 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
L. Robb
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box No. 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
Get access

Synopis

A general survey of the biomass of the benthic infauna of the Clyde Sea Area and the distribution and abundance of the dominant species throughout the area, based on data from surveys undertaken in 1972 and 1974, is described. Recent surveys of the distribution of species along a well-defined gradient of organic enrichment on the Garroch Head sewage sludge disposal grounds in the central Firth of Clyde are used comparatively to suggest that benthic populations in the inner sea lochs, Kilbrannan Sound and in areas along the Ayrshire coast are markedly enriched. It is suggested that this enrichment may be caused by a general eutrophication of the Clyde Sea Area enhancing the effects of localised carbon inputs from urban areas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 90: The Environment of the Estuary and Firth of Clyde , 1986 , pp. 329 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J. A. 1953. Observations on the epifauna of the deep water muds of the Clyde Sea Area, with special reference to Chlamys septemradiata. Journal of Animal Ecology 22, 240–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J. A. 1954. A comparative study of the British species of Nucula and Nuculana. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 33, 457–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, R. B. 1952. New records of polychaetes from the Clyde Sea Area, with a description of a new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 65, 1–26.Google Scholar
Chumley, J. 1918. The fauna of the Clyde Sea Area. Glasgow, The University Press.Google Scholar
Deegan, C. E., Kirby, R., Rae, I. & Floyd, R. 1973. The superficial deposits of the Firth of Clyde and its sea lochs. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences No. 73/9.Google Scholar
DOE. 1979. Report of the sub-committee on the disposal of sewage sludge to sea 1975–78. Standing Technical Committee Reports 18. London: Department of the Environment/National Water Council.Google Scholar
Edwards, A., Baxter., M. S., Ellen, D. J., Martin, J. H. A., Meldrum, D. T. & Griffiths, C. R. 1986. Clyde Sea hydrography. Proceedings of the Roval Society of Edinburgh 90B, 67–83.Google Scholar
Eleftheriou, A., Robertson, M. R. & Murison, D. J. 1986. The benthic fauna of sandy bays with particular reference to Irvine Bay. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 90B, 317–327.Google Scholar
Elliot, G. F. S., Laurie, M. & Murdoch, J. B. 1901. Fauna, Flora and Geology of the Clyde Area. Glasgow: Local Committee for the Meeting of the British Association.Google Scholar
Halcrow, W., Mackay, D. W. & Thornton, I. 1973. The distribution of trace metals and faunas in the Firth of Clyde in relation to the disposal of sewage sludge. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 53, 731–739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, N. S. 1950. Marine bottom communities. Biological Reviews 25, 283 313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. E. 1975. The macrobenthic fauna of the Firth of Clyde. Honours Degree Thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Mclntyre, A. D. 1977. Effects of pollution on inshore benthos. In Ecology of marine benthos, ed. Coull, B. C, pp. 301–318. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Mackay, D. W. & Topping, G. 1970. Preliminary report on the effects of sludge dumping at sea. Effluent and Water Treatment Journal 10, 641–649.Google Scholar
Mackay, D. W., Halcrow, W. & Thornton, I. 1972. Sludge dumping in the Firth of Clyde. Marine Pollution Bulletin 3, 7–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, H. B. 1931. The muds of the Clyde Sea Area III. Chemical and physical conditions; rate and nature of sedimentation; and fauna. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 17, 325–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, R. D. M. 1980. The behavioural ecology of small demersal fish associated with soft sediments. Ph.D. Thesis, Zoology Department, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Pearson, T. H. 1980. The macrobenthos of fjords. In Fjord Oceanography, eds. Freeland, H. D., Farmer, D. M. & Levings, C. D. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, T. H. (in press). The benthic ecology of an accumulating sludge disposal ground. In Biological Processes and Waste in the Ocean, ed. Capuzzo, J. Vol. I: Oceanic Processes in Marine Pollution. Malabar, Florida: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Pearson, T. H., Gray, J. & Johannessen, P. J. 1983. Objective selection of sensitive species indicative of pollutioninduced change in benthic communities. 2. Data analyses. Marine Ecology—Progress Series 12, 237–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, T. H., Rosenberg, R. & Josefson, A. B. 1985. Petersen's benthic stations revisited. 1. Is the Kattegat becoming eutrophic? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 92, 157–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pye, M. I. A. 1980. Studies of burrows in recent sub-littoral fine sediments off the west coast of Scotland. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Geology, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, R., Gray, J., Josefson, A. B. & Pearson, T. H. (in press). Petersen's benthic stations revisited. II. Are the Oslofjord and eastern Skagerrak enriched? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.Google Scholar
Thorson, G. 1957. Bottom Communities (Sublittoral or Shallow Shelf). Treatise on marine ecology and palaeoecology 1. Geological Society of America, Memoir 67, 461–534.Google Scholar