Relationships between invertebrate benthos, environmental drivers and pollutants at a subcontinental scale

Abstract Marine ecosystems are structured by an array of natural and anthropogenic drivers, their diverse influences varying between different community types and across space. We assessed consistency in variation in composition and richness for three communities (macro- and meio-faunal communities associated with macroalgae, and soft-sediment infaunal communities) across natural and pollution gradients at the subcontinental scale of southeastern Australia. Community structure varied with natural environmental factors (temperature, wave exposure) and, to a lesser extent, pollutant loads (catchment effects, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and nutrients) across 43 sites spanning 2700 km. The community types showed differing sensitivities to pollutants: algal macrofauna was most strongly associated with hydrocarbon pollution and nutrient loading; algal meiofauna with heavy metals and nutrients; and infauna with catchment effects and nutrients. Different taxonomic resolutions were needed to detect significant pollution relationships for the three community types, indicating that monitoring programmes are most effective if pollutant- and fauna-specific.