A wide range of human pharmaceuticals are present at low concentrations in freshwater systems, particularly in sections of polluted river. These compounds show high biological activity, often associated with a high stability. These characteristics imply a potential impact of these substances on aquatic biota even when present at low environmental concentrations. Low flow conditions in Mediterra...

We summarized studies on the impacts and scale effects of negative (competition, predation, parasitism, herbivory) and positive (mutualism, commensalism, indirect facilitation) species interactions in freshwater benthic habitats since ,1986 and focused on organisms with mainly or entirely aquatic life cycles. Benthologists publishing in J-NABS have contributed robustly to our overall knowledge ...

Benthic invertebrate assessments can be used to gauge the impact of urban wetweather flows in receiving waters. Experiences from Cemagref in France have shown that standardized benthic indices (e.g. Oligochaete Index of Sediment Bioindication IOBS) can be used to reliably determine the ecological status of urban streams and can be incorporated into the new European Water Framework Directive. Th...

Toxicity-based sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) are often used to assess the potential of sediment contamination to adversely affect benthic macrofauna, yet the correspondence of these guidelines to benthic community condition is poorly documented. This study compares the performance of 5 toxicity-based SQG approaches to a new benthos-based SQG approach relative to changes in benthic communit...

Microeukaryotes play key roles in the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. Little is known about the relative importance of the processes that drive planktonic and benthic microeukaryotic biogeography in subtropical offshore areas. This study compares the microeukaryotic community compositions (MCCs) from offshore waters (n = 12) and intertidal sediments (n = 12) around Xiamen Island...

Structural patterns of a sublittoral community were analyzed through a two-year series of samples in the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The groups involved in the study comprise fishes, molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans. The time-space progressions of Second Order diversity values range between N2=5.3 and N2=9.8 at depths of 40 and 20 m respectively, through the first year of samples. In the ...

Disturbance-mediated species loss has prompted research considering how ecosystem functions are changed when biota is impaired. However, there is still limited empirical evidence from natural environments evaluating the direct and indirect (i.e. via biota) effects of disturbance on ecosystem functioning. Oxygen deficiency is a widespread threat to coastal and estuarine communities. While the ne...

Detrital subsidies from marine macrophytes are prevalent in temperate estuaries, and their role in structuring benthic macrofaunal communities is well documented, but the resulting impact on ecosystem function is not understood. We conducted a field experiment to test the effects of detrital decay on soft-sediment primary production, community metabolism and nutrient regeneration (measures of e...

Benthic primary producers in tropical reef ecosystems can alter biogeochemical cycling and microbial processes in the surrounding seawater. In order to quantify these influences, we measured rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exudate release by the dominant benthic primary producers (calcifying and non-calcifying macroalgae, turf-algae and corals) on reefs ...