Multi-bioindicator study of a small estuary in Vendée (France)

Surficial sediment (about 5 mm) was scraped off in 15 stations selected in the Vie Estuary, a small estuary on the French Atlantic coast. The samples, prepared using the suitable methods, were used for comparing the behaviour of periphytic algae, sporopollinic and other palynologic material, ostraco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estuarine, coastal and shelf science coastal and shelf science, 2003-12, Vol.58 (4), p.843-860
Main Authors: Debenay, J.P, Carbonel, P, Morzadec-Kerfourn, M.-T, Cazaubon, A, Denèfle, M, Lézine, A.-M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Atlantic
Biological and medical sciences
Brackish
Brackish water ecosystems
estuary
foraminifera
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Ostracoda
Pediastrum
periphytic algae
Pyrrophycophyta
sporopollinic material
Synecology
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Summary:Surficial sediment (about 5 mm) was scraped off in 15 stations selected in the Vie Estuary, a small estuary on the French Atlantic coast. The samples, prepared using the suitable methods, were used for comparing the behaviour of periphytic algae, sporopollinic and other palynologic material, ostracoda and foraminifera for proposing a synthetic evaluation of the information provided by each of them. Dinoflagellate cysts, which are found in an almost monospecific assemblage in low-salinity water, are dispersed by tidal currents, but the location of tintinnids in only the lower reaches shows a limited inward transport. Sporopollinic material is clearly related to the adjacent vegetation, indicating a local origin, and then little influence of transport on the microbenthos, even if fragments of freshwater crustaceans and of Pediastrum alga are found down to the mouth in the sporopollinic deposits. This limited transport of microbenthos allows the use of periphytic algae, benthic ostracoda and benthic foraminifera as indicators of local environmental conditions. It was then possible to determine the extent of marine influence in the estuary, to discriminate between the main channel and adjacent basins, and between different stages of evolution of the basins, from a recently dug basin to a eutrophicated one.
ISSN:0272-7714
1096-0015
DOI:10.1016/S0272-7714(03)00189-6