Revista de Biologa Marina y Oceanografa 37 (1): 25 - 33, julio de 2002

The community-level response to sewage impact in intertidal

mytilid beds of the Southwestern Atlantic, and the use of
the Shannon index to assess pollution
La respuesta al impacto cloacal a nivel comunitario en los bancos intermareales de
mitlidos del Atlntico sudoccidental, y el uso del ndice de Shannon para
la determinacin de contaminacin
Eduardo Alberto Vallarino, Ma. Silvia Rivero, Ma. Carola Gravina and Rodolfo Elas
Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Departamento de Ciencias Marinas,
Den Funes 3350 (B 7602 AYL) Mar del Plata, Argentina. Fax 0054 0223 475 3150
[email protected]

Abstract. - A study of an intertidal mytilid community in

the Southwestern Atlantic shore was carried out in order to
characterize the mytilid beds response to an intertidal sewage
discharge. Four Stations were sampled around the outfall, with
a Control site. Total Weight and Organic Carbon content of
sediments among mussels, as well as water quality variables
were measured. All macrofauna were counted, and species
number, Shannons diversity index and evenness were
calculated. The mytilid Brachidontes rodriguezi increases it
density inversely to distance to the effluent. The polychaetes
Capitella capitata and Boccardia polybranchia characterized
the most impacted Stations, while crustaceans (Corophium
insidiosum, Jassa falcata and Caprella sp.) were dominant at
medial distances. Both environmental and biological data
show significative differences between Stations. The most
impacted Station has the lowest species number, but the
highest values of both diversity and evenness; while control
Station has the lowest values of diversity and evenness. The
study reject the use of univariate indices to assess organic
pollution in this community, being the presence of indicator
species with mytilid proportion the best tool for sewage
impact assessment.
Keywords: mytilid beds, community structure, univariate
index, intertidal sewage, Southwestern Atlantic.

Se realiz un estudio de la comunidad

intermareal de mitlidos del Atlntico sudoccidental con el
objetivo de caracterizar su respuesta a la descarga de un
efluente cloacal intermareal. Cuatro estaciones fueron
muestreadas en el rea impactada, ms un sitio Control. Peso
total y contenido orgnico fueron medidos del sedimento
retenido entre los bivalvos, al igual que variables de calidad
del agua. Toda la macrofauna fue contada, y el nmero de
especies, diversidad y equitatividad fueron calculadas. El
mitlido Brachidontes rodriguezi incrementa su densidad en
forma inversa a la distancia al efluente. Los poliquetos
Capitella capitata y Boccardia polybranchia caracterizan las
estaciones ms impactadas, mientras que los crustceos
(Corophium insidiosum, Jassa falcata y Caprella sp.) fueron
dominantes a distancias intermedias. Tanto los datos
ambientales como los biolgicos muestran diferencias
significativas entre estaciones. La estacin ms impactada
tiene el ms bajo nmero de especies, aunque los ms altos
valores de diversidad y equitatividad, mientras que el sitio
Control tiene los ms bajos. En este estudio se rechaza el uso
de ndices univariantes para la determinacin de
contaminacin orgnica por efluentes cloacales en esta
comunidad. La mejor herramienta de anlisis result ser la
presencia de especies indicadoras y la proporcin de mitlidos.
Palabras clave: bancos de mitlidos, estructura comunitaria,
ndices
univariados,
cloaca
intermareal,
Atlntico
sudoccidental.

Introduction

areas in many parts of the world, with consequent

potential damaging effects on both inshore fisheries and
recreational facilities (Rosenberg 1985).

Historically men have to disposal sewage. Coastal cities

have solved this situation by dumping in the coastal
line, being organic enrichment the oldest form of marine
pollution (Pearson & Rosenberg 1978). However, large
cities settled on the shore have become the
eutrophication in a common hazard in marine coastal

Resumen. -

In the Southwestern Atlantic shore most (if not all)

sewage discharge is still produced in shallow waters
without any treatment or, like in the argentinian Mar del
Plata City (38 S 57 W), on the intertidal zone. The

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Revista de Biologa Marina y Oceanografa

City has a permanent population of about 550,000

people, but during summer time, it receives more than
2,000,000 tourists. The domestic sewage has a
pretreatment plant that discharges a continuous flow
with a mean rate of 2,5 m3.seg1, but in summer season
reaches more than 4 m3.seg-1. The City needs a way to
evaluate the extents and degree of man-caused impact in
the marine environment.
The search for a cost-effective method for assessing
environmental impact has a long history. From indicator
species, or group of species, to community structure,
men have attemped to found an unequivocal way to
evaluate the extents and degree of the antropogenic
effects. A complete framework was developed for the
relationship between benthic communities and organic
pollution, base on the response of soft-bottom
macrobenthic communities from USA and Europe
(Pearson & Rosenberg 1978). This model predicts low
values of species number in the vecinity of an
organically enriched area, with great amount of
individuals (opportunistic species). So, we can assess
this kind of impact through indices that reflect this
uneven individuals by species-distribution. Several
measures have been proposed, being the Shannon
diversity index H (Shannon & Weaver 1963), probably
the most widespread employed in pollution ecology
(Warwick & Clarke 1993). The Shannon index has been
incorporated in some programmes (like PRIMER,
Plymouth Routines in Multivariate Ecological
Research)(Plymouth Marine Laboratory 1994), and in
Norway is part of the environmental legislation, and it is
used to classified sediment quality (but see Gray 2000).
In contrast with soft-bottom models, only a few
hard-bottom related studies have been carried out (i.e.
Borowitzka 1972, Littler & Murray 1978), most if not
all in intertidal substrates dominated by algae. However,
considering intertidal mussel beds affected by sewage,
at last in one known case (using relative percent cover,
and not all the species), the response of the intertidal
community was opposite to the described model.
Intertidal mussel beds developed as epilithic
communities in the Southwestern Atlantic shore have
shown an unsuspected behavior in community structure,
being the lowest value of diversity and evenness (but no
the species number) in not impacted areas, rather than in
organically impacted ones (Lpez Gappa et al. 1990,
1993).
So, is this behavior a common feature in intertidal
mussel beds or is an exceptional case among a set of
classical benthic response? In order to test this
hypothesis, and to find a methodology easy and cheap to
assess organic pollution in the Southwestern Atlantic
shore, a spatial design with quantitative data along a
26

Vol. 37, N 1, 2002

predicted organically enrichment gradient was

performed on a epilithic intertidal mytilid community
developed in hard substrates exposed to domestic
sewage.

The Study area

The sampling area is an open coast subjected to a
longshore current (south to north) and to autumn-winter
storms, with extense medium-sand beaches only
interrupted by quartzitic outcrops and abrasion
platforms of hard substrate. Around the effluent an
abrasion platform is exposed to low tides, being azoics
to the north (except for a few opportunistic algae), while
to the south (to the City) they are cover by an
unsuspected well developed mytilid community, where
the study was carried out. These platforms are hard
substrates
of
caliche
(consolidated
loess),
characterized by an irregular and slowly slope (almost
horizontal). Grooves lying perpendicular to the
shoreline are common. Semidiurnal tides varies between
0.60 and 0.90 m (see Isla & Ferrante 1997, Isla &
Aliotta 1999). Seawater have a range of temperature
between 8 to 21 C, and salinity between 33.5 to 33.8
psu, being considered as residual waters of the
continental shelf (Guerrero & Piola 1997).

Material and methods

During November of 1997, four Stations (1 to 4) were
sampled south to the effluent (Fig. 1). In each Station
two tidal levels were randomly sampled with a 78 cm2
corer into the mussel beds, 4 sampling units in the upper
fringe (exposed in neap tides), and other 4 in the lower
fringe (exposed in spring tides). The low level was
absent from the Station 1. A Control Station (C) has
also sampled 9 km north, where the intertidal
community was developed in a similar intertidal hard
substrate (Santa Elena Formation).
Environmental variables (Dissolved Oxygen,
Turbidity, Temperature, Salinity and pH) were
measured in situ by a U-10 Horiba in each Station, and
also in two wind conditions (North and East). Sediment
samplings were obtained replicated in each level for
determination of Total Organic Carbon (TOC, Walkley
& Black 1965). The material retained in a 1 mm screen
mesh was separated and identificated under a
stereomicroscope, but sediment accumulated between
mussels were retained during sorting for total weight
determination. Species richness, the Shannon diversity
index (Shannon & Weaver 1963) and evenness (Pielou
1969) were calculated for each sampling unit.

Vallarino et al.

Sewage impact in SW Atlantic mussel beds

27

Figure 1
Sampling design in an abrasion platform affected by sewage inhabited by a mytilid community in the Southwestern Atlantic.
The Station Control (C) is placed 9 km north to the effluent.
Diseo de muestreo en una plataforma de abrasin afectada por efluentes cloacales habitada por una comunidad de mitlidos en el
Atlntico sudoccidental. La estacin Control (C) est ubicada 9 km al norte del efluente.

Water quality data were analyzed using a two-way

Anova, considering Stations and wind conditions, and
differences in TOC and sediment weight were tested by
a one-way Anova. Differences in densities between tidal
levels and Species, and between Stations and Species
were performed also with a one-way Anova. Biological
analyses were performed on a reduced matrix with the
14 species of dominance up to 0.05 %. Both
environmental and biological data (abundances) were

double root transformed to achive homogeneity of

variances (verified by the Cochrans C test). Whenever
a difference was established in the Anova, a Post-hoc
SNK test was performed to the appropiated alpha level.
A Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was performed in order
to determine the relationship between biological and
environmental variables. For diversity analysis, the
statistic Jack-Knife was utilized to test differences
between all possible pair of Stations.
27

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Revista de Biologa Marina y Oceanografa

35

Salinity (psu)

Vol. 37, N 1, 2002

Temperature ( C)

17

33
16
31

North
East

29
27

12

15
14

-1

Dissolved Oxygen (mg*l )

250

Turbidity (ntu)

11
10

150

9
50

8
7

8,6

-50

3
Stations

pH

8,4
8,2
8,0

3
Stations

Figure 2
Mean values ( sd) of environmental variables (Salinity, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity, and pH) in impacted
Stations (1 to 4) and Control Station (C) of the SW Atlantic shore in the two wind conditions.
Valores medios ( ds) de variables ambientales (Salinidad, Temperatura, Oxgeno disuelto, Turbidez, y pH) en Estaciones impactadas
(1 a 4) y Estacin Control (C) de la costa SO del Atlntico en dos condiciones de viento.

The data were analyzed by a two-way Anova,

considering Stations (1, 2, 3, 4 and C) and wind
condition. The results shows a gradient according to
distance to the effluent, but also a strong influence of
the wind (Fig. 2). Differences due to Stations, Wind and
Interactions were significative (p < 0.05). Planned
comparison shows that Control Station (C) was different
from Stations 1 to 4, and Station 1 differs from Stations
2, 3 and 4.

60

40

20

2,5

80
Total Organic Carbon (%)

Retained Sediment by mussels (Kg.m- )

Environmental variables

3,0

100

Results

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

0,0

Stations

Stations

Figure 3

Sedimentary pattern
Total weight of sediments accumulated between
mussels show a decreasing gradient from the control
area (C) to the most impacted Station (1)(Fig. 3a), while
TOC shows the opposite tendency, revealing the
existence of an organically enrichment gradient (Fig.
3b). Post-hoc commparison shows that both parameters
have highly significatives differences (p< 0.01) between
Stations 1-2 and the rest.
28

Mean ( sd) of a: sediments accumulated between mussels

(Kg.m-2); b: Total Organic Carbon (%) in sediments.
Station 1 is the closest to the intertidal sewage discharge
and 4 the most far to the south; Station C (Control) is
placed 9 km north.
Media ( ds) de a: sedimentos acumulados entre bivalvos
(Kg.m-2); b: Carbono orgnico total (%) en sedimentos. La
Estacin 1 es la ms cercana al efluente y la 4 la ms lejana
hacia el sur; la Estacin C (Control) est 9 km al norte.

Vallarino et al.

29

Sewage impact in SW Atlantic mussel beds

Community pattern

A first analysis of differences in the community was

conducted on tidal levels, being differences not
significative; so all the sampling units were pooled for a
one-way Analysis of Variance, being differences due to
Station and Species significatives, as well as
interactions (Table 1). Due to significative interactions,
the benthic response was analyzed Station by Station.
In Station 1, community structure is characterized by
the presence of Boccardia polybranchia (12.4 %),
Capitella capitata (11.4 %) and Corophium insidiosum
(18 %), while the proportion of Brachidontes rodriguezi
were low (38 %). Species number is low, but diversity
and evenness were high (Fig. 5). Stations 2 and 3 (at
230 and 450 m from the effluent, respectively) present a
variable proportion of the mytilid B. rodriguezi
(between 15.5 to 33.5 %), and the associated fauna
reach high abundance, mainly constituted by Jassa
falcata (26 to 35 %) and C. insidiosum (14.6 a 39.9 %).
In Station 4 (about 800 m from the effluent), C.
insidiosum decreases in its dominance (6.7 to 9.7 %),
while J. falcata is still dominant (30.8 to 47.5 %). The
proportion of B. rodriguezi remains low (18.2 to 23.9
%), due to the abundance of Caprella sp. (7.6 to 14.5
%) and the polychaete Syllis prolixa (10.8 to 16.7 %).
Species number increases but diversity and evenness
remains relatively constant in these three Stations (Fig.
5). Differences in diversity were also significative
(Table 2).
In the control Station (C) B. rodriguezi is the
dominant species (85 %) and Mytilus edulis platensis
only reaches 1 to 1.3 %. The associated fauna were
Syllis prolixa (3.8 to 4.8 %), Syllis gracilis (1.2 to 1.9
%) and Jassa falcata (0.1 to 3.7 %). Diversity reaches
their minumum value, as well as evennes, but species
number was not different from other Stations.

Crustaceans

Polychaetes

160000
Density (ind.m-2)

About 43 species (36,667 individuals) were identified

from the intertidal community. Mean dominance in the
area corresponds to the mytilid Brachidontes rodriguezi
(42.86 %), the amphipods Jassa falcata (23 %) and
Corophium insidiosum (12.9 %), the polychaetes Syllis
prolixa (7.66 %) and Syllis gracilis (2.64 %), and the
caprellid Caprella sp. (4.15 %). The presence of the
algae Enteromorpha sp., Bryopsis sp. and Cladophora
sp. was constant, and in minor degree also for Ulva
lactuca, but always in low frequency and abundance.
Mytilus edulis platensis, the other mytilid in the area,
varies between 0.35 to 3.6 %. However, spatial
distribution is not even according to proportion and
density, being the molluscs characteristic of the control
Station (C), and polychaetes in Station 1, while
crustaceans are dominant at intermediate Stations (Fig.
4).

Molluscs

120000
80000
40000
0

Stations

Figure 4
-2

Mean density (ind.m ) of the intertidal mussel community

in the SW Atlantic shore affected by an organic gradient
due to sewage.
Densidad media (ind.m-2) de la comunidad intermareal de
bivalvos en la costa SO del Atlntico afectada por un
gradiente orgnico debido a un efluente cloacal.

16

12
8

2,8

2,0
1,2
0,4

0,7

0,4
0,1

Stations

Figure 5
Species number (S), diversity (H Shannon Index) and
evenness (J) in an intertidal mytilid bed affected by
sewage in the Southwestern Atlantic shore. Organic
gradient decreases from Stations 1 to 4. Station C is the
Control site.
Nmero de especies (S), diversidad (ndice H de Shannon) y
equitatividad (J) en un banco de mitlidos intermareales
afectados por un efluente cloacal en la costa SO del Atlntico.
El gradiente orgnico disminuye desde la Estacin 1 a la 4. La
Estacin C es el sitio Control.

29

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Revista de Biologa Marina y Oceanografa

Vol. 37, N 1, 2002

Table 1
Summary of all Effects in the two-way Anova (Stations and Species as Factors). *p<0.05
Resumen de todos los efectos del Anova de dos vas (Especies y Estaciones como factores). *p<0.05

Station
Species
Interaction

Df Effect

MS Effect

Df Error

MS Error

p-level

4
11
44

2.90772
18.81903
2.04683

31
341
341

0.135830
0.060869
0.060869

21.4071
309.1751
33.6270

0.000000*
0.000000*
0.000000*

Table 2
Values of t (Jack-Knife test) for H diversity measurements in intertidal Stations affected by an organic enrichment gradient
in the SW Atlantic shore. In parenthesis the degree of fredom. * p< 0.05; ** p< 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
Valores de t (prueba de Jack-Knife) para mediciones de diversidad de H en estaciones intermareales afectadas por un gradiente de
enriquecimiento orgnico en el Atlntico SO. En parntesis los grados de libertad. * p< 0.05; ** p< 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
1
2
3
4
C

54.05*** (34)
39.09*** (21)
2.63*
(34)
2.96** (31)

2
34.78*** (37)
1.96ns (40)
2.91** (37)

0.55ns (37)
2.83** (34)

2.98** (37)

Redundancy Analysis
The relationship of environmental and biological
variables (Fig. 6) shows sampling units of impacted
stations 1 and 2 related to TOC and Turbidity,
associated to the polychaetes Capitella capitata and
Boccardia polybranchia. In the opposite side of Axis I
(that explain 54 % of the total variance) the intermediate
stations 3 and 4 were associated mainly to crustaceans
and the polychaetes Syllis gracilis and Caulleriella
alata, while the Control station were associated to
Brachidontes rodriguezi, and the polychaetes Syllis
gracilis and Protoariciella uncinata, highly related to
pH, dissolved oxygen, and sediment accumulated
between mussels. Axis II (explaining a 39 % of the
variance) discriminate diverse stations (1, 2, 3 and 4)
from poorly diverse station (Control site). However,
considering only TOC and sediment between mussels
(because the other environmental variables were highly
correlated), explained variance of Axis I and II were 82
and 18 %, respectively.

B. poly

J. fal
C. insid

C. cap

22
2
22
2

111

C. alata4
3

2
3

TOC

Capre

pH S. gra

Turb

44 3
4
3 3 43 3 4 4
3 S. pro
4

CC
C
C

Sedim
P. unci
Oxy
B. rodri

C
C

Figure 6
Redundancy analysis (RDA). Relationship of sampling units of Stations, Species, and environmental variables in the intertidal
Brachidontes rodriguezi community exposed to sewage discharge. 1 to 4: Impacted Stations; C: Control site. B.poly: Boccardia
polybranchia; C.cap: Capitella capitata; J.fal: Jassa falcata; C.insid: Corophium insidiosum; Capre: Caprella sp.; C.alata:
Caulleriella alata; S.pro: Syllis prolixa; S.gra: Syllis gracilis; P.unci: Protoariciella uncinata; B.rodri: Brachidontes rodriguezi.
TOC: Total Organic Carbon; Turb: Turbidity; Sed: Sediment accumulated between mussels; Oxy: Dissolved oxygen and pH.
Anlisis de redundancia. Relacin entre unidades de muestreo de las Estaciones, Especies y variables ambientales en la comunidad
intermareal de Brachidontes rodriguezi expuesta a la descarga cloacal. 1 a 4: Estaciones impactadas; C: sitio Control; B.poly:
Boccardia polybranchia; C.cap: Capitella capitata; J.fal: Jassa falcata; C.insid: Corophium insidiosum; Capre: Caprella sp.;
C.alata: Caulleriella alata; S.pro: Syllis prolixa; S.gra: Syllis gracilis; P.unci: Protoariciella uncinata; B.rodri: Brachidontes
rodriguezi.. TOC: Carbono orgnico total; Turb: Turbidez; Sed: Sedimento acumulado entre bivalvos; Oxy: Oxgeno disuelto; y pH.

30

Vallarino et al.

Sewage impact in SW Atlantic mussel beds

Discussion
Environmental data on water quality show a tipical
gradient from the effluent, produced by the dilution of
sewage discharge in the coastal waters. Parameters that
reflect this pattern are pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Salinity,
and Turbidity. However, wind direction affected the
distribution of sewage loadings. The flume has a
variable behavior according to wind and tidal
movements, being the southern coast affected by north
wind, while the northern coast is affected by south and
east winds (see Isla et al. 1998). Due to wind and
longshore current (both predominantly south to north),
north coast is severely affected by sewage, while to the
south coast, average water quality allows the existence
of a relatively well developed mytilid community.
Sediment composition also reflects the organic
enrichment. An organically gradient is present from
Station 1 to the south. However, the minimun value is
observed in the intermediate Station 3 (perhaps due to
the enbayment position). Sediments accumulated
between mussels show the reverse, decreasing from
Control sites to impacted areas, being the lowest value
in Station 1, near the effluent, and the maximum value
was recorded in the control site, where mytilid density is
the greatest. It is a well known fact that mussel matrix
retain sediments (see Seed & Suchanek 1992), so the
sediment retained is a denso-dependient variable, while
density is a sewage-dependient factor. This could be
seen in the RDA, in where the two factors (organic
matter and sediments) and main species can explain the
100 % of the variance.
The original description of the epilithic community
shows that dominance in quartzitic rocks were
established by the mytilid Brachidontes rodriguezi,
reaching a mean dominance of 94 % in the high
intertidal to 59 % in the lower intertidal, while Mytilus
edulis platensis increases to the lower intertidal, from
0.59 to about 38 % (Olivier et al. 1966, Penchaszadeh
1973). The disminution of the Mytilus dominance could
not directly related to sewage effect, because other
studies on this community also show the dominance
(between 70 to 90 %) of B. rodriguezi, being Mytilus
only ocasional, and always in low abundance (Scelzo et
al. 1996).
On the other hand, in the Mar del Plata port the
displacement of the mytilid community from intertidal
areas was atributed to the pollution effect (Bastida et al.
1980) and to competitive exclution by barnacles
(Vallarino & Elas 1997). In the abrasion platforms
affected by sewage, the proportion of the mytilid

31

Brachidontes rodriguezi remains low till the control

areas, due to the negative effect of organic enrichment,
and also for the presence and abundance of other
species, tolerant to organic pollution.
Several polychaetes species were also found
associated to this mussel beds, being Capitella capitata
the dominant polychaete in organically impacted areas
(5,448 ind.m-2), as well as the spionid Boccardia
polybranchia (5,833 ind.m-2). In enriched sediments
associated to the blue mussel Mytilus edulis in
Denmark, Svane & Setyobudiandi (1996) have also
found C. capitata and the spionid Polydora ciliata
related to local hydrodinamics that increases both
sedimentation and/or faeces and pseudofaeces. In the
Wadden Sea C. capitata and P. ligni reach their highest
average abundance inside Mytilus beds (4,000 and 3,000
ind.m-2, respectively), while in the adjacent areas of
sand-flats did not exceed 750 ind.m-2 (Gnther 1996).
Capitella spp. are known to increase in patches enriched
with organic matter (see Ragnarsson & Rafaelli 1999),
and in particular C. capitata is regarded as classical
indicator of organic enrichment of sediments (see
Pearson & Rosenberg 1978, Pocklington & Wells
1992). It is also known the relationship of spionids with
organically enriched sediments (Pearson & Rosenberg
1978). In intertidal areas of California (Dorsey et al.
1983) and in an Australian sewage (Dorsey 1982)
Boccardia proboscidea was found in high abundances.
In other abrasion platform of the Southwestern Atlantic
shore, Lpez Gappa et al. (1990) have found high
densities of Boccardia sp. (up to 500,000 ind. m-2)
between mussels and in sandy substrates at lower
intertidal and subtidal areas at 50 to 100 m from
sewage.
Other effects related to organic pollution is the great
crustacean richness and density. Several species of
Corophium have been mentioned in or around pollution
areas (Pearson & Rosenberg 1978). C. insidiosum was
found in many works on the South Atlantic shore, but is
the first time that their occurrence in high densities are
registred in relation to a mussel beds affected by
sewage. Caprella sp. and Jassa falcata are common
members of this community, but never have been
registered in densities of thousands. J. falcata was also
subdominant in subtidal mytilids beds of the
Mediterranean Sea at intermediate distances from
pollution sources (Bitar 1982). Gnther (1996) also
observed an increasing abundance of mobile epifauna
(mainly crustaceans) inside the Mytilus beds compared
to adjacent flat.
This most impacted Station (1) has high diversity
and evenness. Although species number are the lowest
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Revista de Biologa Marina y Oceanografa

of the sampled area, the numerical distribution of

indicator species and Brachidontes rodriguezi are more
even that in other areas far from the effluent. Diversity
index, like Shannons, would be useful in detection of
pollution, because we expected that impacted areas had
lower values than non-impacted ones. However, the
example of the intertidal community in this part of
South America shows an opposite effect, being the
lowest values of H and J in the normal community
due to the dominance of mytilids. Lpez Gappa et al.
(1990), studying the same epilithic mytilid community
120 km south to Mar del Plata City, found the same
pattern in a similar abrasion platform (but tidal level
corresponds mostly to a more high level, and using
relative percent cover). These authors conclude, like
Osman (1977), that there is an optimun degree of
disturbance at which diversity reaches a maximum.
Near the effluent, the low species number was due to
the negative effects of organic pollution, while in the
Control site the drop in both diversity and evenness
(rather than in species number) was due to the space
monopolization by Brachidontes rodriguezi. The
optimum degree of disturbance by domestic sewage
seems to be between 200 to 800 m far from the effluent,
in where highly density of associated fauna (mainly
crustaceans and polychaetes) and high diversity values
were observed. Trends in epilithic intertidal community
showed herein at the spatial scale can be observed also
along a series of short-term studies (Vallarino, pers.
com., 2001).
In the same way, Warwick & Clarke (1993) show
that variability (standard desviation) in diversity (H)
tends to increase with increasing levels of perturbation
(only significative for macrobenthos). In the present
work this tendency was rejected, because Station 1 (the
most impacted) shows the lowest species number, but
the highest diversity and evenness values (see Figure 5),
and also shows a similar variability with the Control
Station, however differences are highly significative in
diversity values (see Table 2). In agreement with Del
Valls & Conradi (2000) the uncertainty and high
variability inherent in both ecosystems and methods of
measurement require a range of values and a burden-ofevidence approach. Ultimately, judgements on
environmental quality, assuming the persistence of
habitat, can only be determined by the responses or
condition of multiple (but never single or a large
number of) measurements conducted as part of
integrative assessments. Gray (2000) have demonstrated
that Shannon index is insensitive, showing little
variation along a transect survey carried out in the
Norwegian Shelf, and that the use of multivariate
statistics gives a much more precise way of detecting
changes in benthic assemblages. However, the Shannon
index is still successfuly used in assessment of
32

Vol. 37, N 1, 2002

pollution. In subtidal areas of this study area the index

has revealed to be usefull for this kind of studies (Elas
et al. 2001).
In this community, the classic response to organic
pollution is the presence and abundance of indicator
species (mainly polychaetes), while the new one is the
utilization of the proportion of mytilids as the most
powerful method for assessing organic pollution from
sewage discharge in the Southwestern Atlantic shore.

Aknowledgements
This work was primarily supported by the authors, but
the enterprise Obras Sanitarias Sociedad de Estado
(OSSE) provided funding (1999) to continue the project.
This study constitutes part of the Ph.D. project
developed by E.A. Vallarino.

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Recibido en marzo de 2002 y aceptado en mayo de 2002

33