Discrimination between disturbed coastal ecosystems by using macrobenthos at different taxonomic levels

摘要: The taxonomic level required to detect changes in the macrobenthic communities of disturbed coastal ecosystems was assessed by applying multivariate statistical methods data. Community data sets were analysed from three estuarine salt marshes on Gulf Cadiz (southwest Iberian Peninsula), affected mainly agricultural sewage (Barbate River estuary), urban effluents (Cadiz Bay) and mining/industrial (Odiel marsh). For both abundance biomass data, aggregation densities Families or Orders did not cause any substantial loss information, statistically identical inferences community structure could be made, with an obvious saving time expertise. Aggregating Classes Phyla had some effects consequent analyses: more similar began confounded.