Lessons from the nearshore: Objectives, methodologies and recommendations for assessing soft sediment habitats

Graphic recording of session by Savanna Young.

Thank you for attending our session! If you didn't get the chance to do so, the summary is below and the recording of that session is HERE.

This talk provides an overview of methods to assess and monitor soft sediment communities in intertidal and subtidal habitats and their application.  A range of techniques are presented along with challenges and recommendations for future monitoring.  

References:

• Holmes, K., Cox, K., Cline, A.R., Hatch, M.B., Black, M.J., Salomon, A.K., Lepofsky, D., Smith, N.F. and Dudas, S., 2020. Ancient Ecology: The Quadra Island Clam Gardens. Fisheries, 45(3), pp.151-156.

• Cox, K.D., Gerwing, T.G., Macdonald, T., Hessing-Lewis, M., Millard-Martin, B., Command, R.J., Juanes, F. and Dudas, S.E., 2019. Infaunal community responses to ancient clam gardens. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76(7), pp.2362-2373.

• Cox, K.D., Davies, H.L., Davidson, K.H., Gerwing, T.G., Dudas, S.E. and Juanes, F., 2020. Shellfish subsidies along the Pacific coast of North America. Ecography, 43(5), pp.668-681.

• Holden, J.J., Collicutt, B., Covernton, G., Cox, K.D., Lancaster, D., Dudas, S.E., Ban, N.C. and Jacob, A.L., 2019. Synergies on the coast: challenges facing shellfish aquaculture development on the central and north coast of British Columbia. Marine Policy, 101, pp.108-117.

• Cox, K.D., Black, M.J., Filip, N., Miller, M.R., Mohns, K., Mortimor, J., Freitas, T.R., Greiter Loerzer, R., Gerwing, T.G., Juanes, F. and Dudas, S.E., 2017. Community assessment techniques and the implications for rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers. Ecology and evolution, 7(24), pp.11213-11226.

• Burd, B., Bertold, S., & Macdonald, T. (2012). Responses of infaunal composition, biomass andproduction to discharges from a marine outfall over the past decade. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 64(9), 1837–1852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.06.007

• Burd, B. J., Macdonald, T. A., Macdonald, R. W., & Ross, P. S. (2014). Distribution and Uptake of KeyPolychlorinated Biphenyl and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Congeners in Benthic Infauna Relative to Sediment Organic Enrichment. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 67(3), 310–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-014-0017-7

• Burd, B. J., Macdonald, T. A., & van Roodselaar, A. (2012). Towards Predicting Basin-Wide InvertebrateOrganic Biomass and Production in Marine Sediments from a Coastal Sea. PLoS ONE, 7(7), e40295. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040295

• Burd, B., Macdonald, T., & Bertold, S. (2013). The effects of wastewater effluent and river discharge onbenthic heterotrophic production, organic biomass and respiration in marine coastal sediments. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 74(1), 351–363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.06.029

• Burd, B., McGreer, B., Taekema, B. and Macdonald, T.A.  (2009), Utility of large regional databases forunderstanding abundance and diversity characteristics of Natural marine Soft Substrate Fauna. pdf. Can Tech Rep Fish Aquat Sci 2859 : v+121p.

• Macdonald, T. A., Burd, B. J., & van Roodselaar, A. (2012). Size Structure of Marine Soft-BottomMacrobenthic Communities across Natural Habitat Gradients: Implications for Productivity and Ecosystem Function. PLoS ONE, 7(7), e40071. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040071