Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T21:35:16.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The sublittoral benthic fauna of the estuary and Firth of Forth, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

M. Elliott  and
Paul F. Kingston
M. Elliott
Affiliation:
Forth River Purification Board, Tidal Waters Section, Port Edgar, South Queensferry EH30 9SQ, Scotland, U.K.
Paul F. Kingston
Affiliation:
Institute of Offshore Engineering and Department of Biological Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH 14 4AS, Scotland, U.K.
Get access

Synopsis

The structure of the sublittoral benthic macro-invertebrate populations of the Forth estuary and firth, Scotland, is described, giving the species richness, abundance and biomass for the area from the freshwater tidal limit to the North Sea boundary. Eight faunal associations have been defined, which include classical Petersen communities in the marine area and transition associations within the estuary. The spatial distributions of the associations are predominantly the result of the physical environment, but superimposed on the effects of salinity, sediment type and bathymetry are the effects of urbanisation, industrialisation, dredging and spoil disposal and thermal discharges. The benthos of the major part of the firth has been little affected, although that of the peripheral and estuarine areas does show anthropogenic effects.

The water column-benthos and fisheries-benthos interactions are also discussed. Elevated levels of nutrients in the water column may be the cause of enriched benthic populations in the firth and an assessment of the fish-benthos coupling indicates an estuarine functioning similar to other northwestern European areas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 93 , Issue 3-4: The Natural Environment of the Estuary and Firth of Forth , 1987 , pp. 449 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1987

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

Ajayi, O. D. 1983. Some aspects of the ecology of flatfish in the Firth of Forth (Ph.D. Thesis, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh).Google Scholar
Corlett, J. 1972. Firths of Forth and Tay. An appraisal of knowledge and present research programmes with suggestions for future research. Plymouth: Institute for Marine Environmental Research.Google Scholar
Dyke, P. P. G. 1987. Water circulation in the Firth of Forth, Scotland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93B, 273–284.Google Scholar
Elliott, M. & Taylor, C. J. L. in press a. The structure and functioning of an estuarine/marine fish community in the Forth estuary, Scotland. Proceedings of the 21st European Marine Biology Symposium, Gdansk (in press).Google Scholar
Elliott, M. & Taylor, C. J. L. in press b. The production ecology of the subtidal benthos of the Forth estuary, Scotland. Investigacion Pesquera.Google Scholar
Gauch, H. G. 1982. Multivariate analysis in community ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, A. H. 1987. Water quality of the estuary and Firth of Forth, Scotland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93B, 303–314.Google Scholar
Jones, N. S. 1950. Marine bottom communities. Biological Reviews 25, 283–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leatherland, T. M. 1987. The estuary and Firth of Forth, Scotland: uses and aims. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93B, 285–297.Google Scholar
Leslie, G. & Herdman, W. A. 1881. The invertebrate fauna of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh: McFarlane and Erskine.Google Scholar
McLusky, D. S. 1987. Inlertidal habitats and benthic macrofauna of the Forth estuary, Scotland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93B, 389–399.Google Scholar
Matthews, J. E. 1983. A study of the influence of changes in sewage discharges from the City of Edinburgh on the marine macrobenthos (Ph.D. Thesis, Napier College, Edinburgh).Google Scholar
Mills, E. L. 1969. The community concept in marine zoology, with comments on continua and instability in some marine communities: a review. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 26, 1415–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, C. G. J. 1913. Valuation of the sea II. The animal communities of the sea bottom and their importance for marine zoogeography. Report of Danish Biological Station 21, 1–44.Google Scholar
Pearson, T. H. & Rosenberg, R. 1978. Macrobenthic succession in relation to organic enrichment and pollution. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 16, 229–311.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, E. 1973. Systematics and ecology of the Isefjord marine fauna (Denmark). Ophelia 11, 1–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remane, A. & Schlieper, C. eds. 1971. Biology of brackish water. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Thorson, G. 1957. Bottom communities (sublittoral or shallowshelf). In Treatise on Marine Ecology and Palaeoecology, volume 1, Ecology, ed. Hedgpeth, J. W. Memoirs of the Geological Society of America 67, 461–534.Google Scholar
Warwick, R. M. & Uncles, R. J. 1980. Distributions of benthic macrofauna associations in the Bristol Channel in relation to tidal stress. Marine Ecology Progress Series 3, 97–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, A. J. & Metcalfe, A. P. 1987. Physical aspects, water movements and modelling studies of the Forth estuary, Scotland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93B, 259–272.Google Scholar
Wishart, D. 1978. Cluster User Manual, 3rd Edition. Inter-University/Research Councils Series Report 47.Google Scholar
Wolff, W. J. 1983. Estuarine benthos. In Estuaries and Enclosed Seas, ed. Ketchum, B. H., Chap. 6. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar