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MEGAEPIFAUNA-HABITAT RELATIONSHIPS IN YAQUINA BAY, OR
Citation:
Cole, F A. AND S P. Ferraro. MEGAEPIFAUNA-HABITAT RELATIONSHIPS IN YAQUINA BAY, OR. Presented at 2001 Estuarine Research Federation meeting, St. Petersburg Beach, FL, November 4-8, 2001.
Description:
Habitat-based ecological risk assessments rely, in part, on estimates of the ecological value of the habitats at risk. As part of a larger programmatic effort to estimate estuarine habitat values, we determined megaepifauna-habitat relationships for four major intertidal habitats in Yaquina Bay, OR: (1) eelgrass, Zostera marina, (2) mud shrimp, Upogebia pugettensis, (3) ghost shrimp, Neotrypaea californiensis, (4) bare mud/sand. Megaepifauna collections were made with a 5 ft high, 20 sq ft surface area drop sampler from which animals were removed with a 3 mm mesh dip net. Ten to 15 random samples were collected per habitat approximately monthly during the summer of 1998 and 1999. There were significantly more megaepifaunal species (S), abundance (A), and biomass (B) in eelgrass than the other three habitats. For the entire study, the mean S, A, and B ratios for fish in habitats (1)-(4) were 7:4:4:1, 12:2:2:1, and 15:2:2:1, respectively. For crabs, the mean S, A, and B ratios were 5:4:2:1, 20:5:1:1, and 29:6:1:1, respectively. These results suggest that megaepifauna-habitat relationships can be used as relative habitat value indicators in estuary-scale ecological risk assessments.