CHAPTER ONE
Faster, Higher and Stronger? The
ProsandConsofMolecularFaunal
Data for Assessing Ecosystem
Condition
Katherine A. Dafforn*
,†,1
, Donald J. Baird
{
, Anthony A. Chariton
}
,
Melanie Y. Sun*
,†
, Mark V. Brown*, Stuart L. Simpson
k
,
Brendan P. Kelaher
}
, Emma L. Johnston*
,†
*Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University
of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
†
Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
{
Environment Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick,
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
}
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Lucas Heights, New South Wales, Australia
}
National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia
k
CSIRO Land and Water, Lucas Heights, New South Wales, Australia
1
Corresponding author: e-mail address:
[email protected]
Contents
1.Introduction 2
1.1Bioassessment and monitoring of ecosystem change 2
1.2Application of molecular tools in biomonitoring 6
1.3Assessing estuarine condition 6
1.4Case study: Contrasting molecular big data with traditional morphological
tools 8
2.Methods 9
2.1Estuarine survey design 9
2.2Benthic sediment sampling 9
2.3Morphological biomonitoring 11
2.4Molecular biomonitoring 11
2.5Measuring anthropogenic stressors 12
2.6Contrasting morphological and molecular tools 13
3.Results 14
3.1Morphological and molecular community composition 14
3.2Relating anthropogenic stressors to sediment communities 19
3.3Diversity measures 22
4.Discussion 27
4.1Characterising ecological systems 27
4.2Distinguishing the effects of multiple stressors 29
Advances in Ecological Research, Volume 51 #2014 Elsevier Ltd
ISSN 0065-2504 All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-099970-8.00003-8
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