Effects of a brine discharge over soft bottom Polychaeta assemblage

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Review

Effects of a brine discharge over soft bottom Polychaeta assemblage

Yoana Del-Pilar-Ruso*, Jose Antonio De-la-Ossa-Carretero,Francisca Gimenez-Casalduero, Jose Luis Sanchez-Lizaso

Dpto. de Ciencias del Mar y Biologıa Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig, Ap. 99, E-03080, Alicante, Spain

Received 5 September 2007; received in revised form 26 November 2007; accepted 7 December 2007

The Polychaete assemblage is affected by the brine discharge of the Alicante desalination plant andwe detect different sensitivity levels in polychaete families to brine impact.

Abstract

Desalination is a growing activity that has introduced a new impact, brine discharge, which may affect benthic communities. Although therole of polychaetes as indicators to assess organic pollution is well known, their tolerance to salinity changes has not been examined to sucha great extent. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of brine discharge over soft bottom polychaete assemblage along the Alicantecoast (Southeast Spain) over a two year period. Changes in the polychaete assemblage was analysed using univariate and multivariatetechniques. We compared a transect in front of the discharge with two controls. At each transect we sampled at three depths (4, 10 and15 m) during winter and summer. We have observed different sensitivity of polychaete families to brine discharges, Ampharetidae being themost sensitive, followed by Nephtyidae and Spionidae. Syllidae and Capitellidae showed some resistance initially, while Paraonidae provedto be a tolerant family.� 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Brine discharge; Polychaete families; Mediterranean Sea; Environmental impact; Bioindicators

1. Introduction

Although bottom macrofauna have many advantages asindicators, benthic assemblages are extremely complex, com-prising a wide range of organisms and usually a large numberof species. In this case, analysis of some taxonomic structuresseems to be more suitable (Belan, 2004). Polychaetes are oneof the most useful marine organisms in detecting pollutionbecause they live at the water-sediment interface. This layeris biologically reactive and chemically active (Rhoads andBoyer, 1982). Polychaetes play a major role in the functioningof benthic communities, in terms of recycling, reworking andbioturbation of marine sediments and in the burial of organicmatter (Hutchings, 1998). Polychaetes are also one of the most

important groups in marine benthic organisms. They are oftenthe numerically dominant macrobenthic taxon in thesesediments, both with regard to the number of species andabundance, and may constitute more than half of the organ-isms in soft bottom habitats. Polychaetes may therefore begood indicators of species richness and community patternsin benthic invertebrate assemblages (Fauchald and Jumars,1979). Numerous authors consider polychaetes to be thetaxonomic group with the most sensitivity to alterations ofthe soft substrata (Grassle and Grassle, 1977; Bellan, 1984;Ros et al., 1990) because of their extraordinary ability to adaptto a whole range of habitats and environmental variation(Fauchald and Jumars, 1979). Therefore, Polychaetes arewell suited as indicators of environmental changes, sincethis group contains both sensitive and tolerant organisms andin addition they are to be found along the whole gradientfrom pristine to heavily disturbed areas. The presence or ab-sence of specific polychaetes in marine sediments, therefore,

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 965 903 400x2916; fax: þ34 965 909

840.

E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Del-Pilar-Ruso).

0269-7491/$ - see front matter � 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2007.12.041

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

Environmental Pollution 156 (2008) 240e250www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol


provides an excellent indication of the condition or health ofthe benthic environment (Ryggs, 1985; Tsutsumi, 1990;Pocklington and Wells, 1992). Moreover, studies of marinebenthic communities have shown that pollution impacts canoften be detected without identifying taxa to the species level,thus saving considerable time and cost (Dethier and Schoch,2006; Del Pilar Ruso et al., 2007).

Desalination of seawater has become an important andgrowing industry due to the water shortage in certain Mediter-ranean countries. The reverse osmosis process is the mostcommon desalination method employed because of its highenergetic efficiency. The main impact on marine communitiesof reverse osmosis desalination plants is caused by thedischarge of an effluent of very high salinity (70e90 psu).The magnitude of the impact depends both on the size ofthe plant and on the sensitivity of the ecosystem that receivesthe spill (Hopner and Widdelberg, 1996). Brine dischargeremains on the bottom because of its high density and itmay affect marine benthic communities. Marine organismslive in an osmotic balance with their environment and anincrease in salt concentration may result in the dehydrationof cells, a decrease of the turgor pressure and, ultimately, deathof mainly larvae and young individuals (Einav et al., 2002).

Some authors have analysed the effect of this new impacton seagrasses (Buceta et al., 2003; Fernandez-Torquemadaand Sanchez-Lizaso, 2005; Fernandez-Torquemada et al.,2005a,b). However, studies on the effects on infaunal commu-nities of sandy bottoms are scarce (Castriota et al., 2001;Raventos et al., 2006) and in particular, studies about theeffects on polychaete assemblage (Del Pilar Ruso et al., 2007).

In order to assess the impact of desalination plants and todetect possible indicators of salinity changes, a study ofpolychaete families associated with soft bottom affected bybrine discharge was conducted.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study area and sampling method

The study was carried out in waters facing the Alicante desalination plant

(SW Spain) (Fig. 1), where the reverse osmosis technique is employed. The

discharge takes place in a coastal zone, with high levels of hydrodynamic

activity. This desalination plant began operations in September 2003. Initially

it had a fresh water production capacity of 50 000 m3/day and a discharge of

65 000 m3/day. The discharge is characterized by its high salinity (68 psu) and

low nutrient content.

In this area, there is a north-south pollution gradient, caused by sewage

outfall and port activities located around 2.5 km to the north of the desalina-

tion discharge. For these reasons three transects were established perpendicu-

lar to the coast, one directly in front of the discharge (transect B), one 400 m to

the north (transect A) and the other 400 m to the south (transect C) (Fig. 1).

Three stations at 4, 10 and 15 m depths were sampled at each transect, in

winter and summer during 2004 and 2005.

The study area is characterized by the heterogeneity of sediments (Table 1).

Medium and fine sand fraction dominated in the shallower stations (4 m), while

in the deeper ones (10 and 15 m) mud fraction was more abundant. The B2

station was characterized by the presence of a high percentage of gravels and

coarse sand. The pH values ranged between 7.01 and 7.94. Organic matter

percentages ranged between 1% and 22.7%. The lowest values were obtained

in the shallow stations. The salinity was around 37.9 � 0.09 in all the stations

with the exception of stations closer to the discharge. In station B2, at 10 m depth,

average salinity is 38.9 � 0.17 and in station B1 at 4 m salinity values exceed

40 psu (Del Pilar Ruso et al., 2007).

Sampling was carried out by SCUBA diving. To study infaunal community

different macrobenthic categories (Del Pilar Ruso et al., 2007), and in partic-

ular polychaete assemblage were counted. Three replicates were collected at

each station using a square box (22.5 � 22.5 cm), sieved through a 0.5 mm

mesh screen and preserved in buffered formalin.

2.2. Statistical analysis

To test differences in abundance, richness and diversity in the polychaete

assemblage among the four fixed orthogonal factors considered: year (2004

and 2005), season, with two levels (summer and winter) transect, with three

levels (A, B, C) and depth, with three levels (4, 10 and 15 m), an analysis of

variance (ANOVA; Underwood, 1981) was used. Heterogeneity of variance

was tested with Cochran’s test (Underwood, 1997). Data were OX þ 1 trans-

formed if variances were significantly different at P ¼ 0.05, and ln(X þ 1)

transformed if variance was still heterogeneous. Where variance remained

heterogeneous, untransformed data were analysed as ANOVA is robust to

heterogeneity of variances, particularly for large balanced experiments

(Underwood, 1997). Further, we set the F-test alpha at 0.01 for analyses

which used untransformed data. SNK test (Student-NewmaneKeuls) was

used to determine which samples were implicated in the differences

(Underwood, 1981).

Non-parametric multivariate techniques were used to compare different

polychaete families present in the study area. All multivariate analyses were

performed using the PRIMER statistical package (Clarke and Warwick,

1994). Triangular similarity matrices were calculated using the BrayeCurtis

similarity coefficient using abundance values (Clarke and Warwick, 1994).

Graphical representation of multivariate patterns of polychaete assemblage

was obtained by non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS). Spearman

correlation between data and abiotic factors (sediment grain size, organic

matter, pH, depth and salinity) were determined using the RELATE procedure

(Clarke, 1993). Similarity percentages (SIMPER) procedure was used to

determine the percentage contribution of each polychaete family. This infor-

mation may be useful to detect possible indicator families for brine discharges.

This taxonomic level was used in order to consider Taxonomic sufficiency,

where the identifying taxa should be undertaken only to the taxonomic level

sufficient for the purpose of the study (Ellis, 1985; Ferraro and Cole, 1990;

Olsgard et al., 1997).

3. Results

With regard to the infaunal community, a total of 13 323specimens were collected, and divided into 20 different taxo-nomic groups. Polychaete dominated the infauna community(38.5% of the total). A total of 5127 individuals were analyzedgrouped into 45 families. The family Capitellidae was the mostabundant (14.1%), followed by Nephtyidae (11.2%), Paraoni-dae (10.8%), Syllidae (6.9%), Ampharetidae (6.1%) and Spio-nidae (6%) (see Appendix). Although the differences were notstatistically significant, it was observed that the abundance ofpolychaetes was higher during the summer in both years(2004: 965.7 � 172.8 ind/m2; and 2005: 1036.7 � 249.07 ind/m2) than in winter (2004: 866.9 � 106.7 ind/m2 and 2005:878.7 � 249.1 ind/m2).

The results of abundance analyses detected significantdifferences for the interaction between two factors (trans-ect � depth) (P ¼ 0.002) (Table 2). These differences weredue to the decrease of abundance in shallow stations (B1 andC1) and in B2 station. The decrease of abundance in B2 stationis more evident during the second sampling period (Summer2005) (Fig. 2, Table 3). Analyzing the richness, significant

241Y. Del-Pilar-Ruso et al. / Environmental Pollution 156 (2008) 240e250


differences (P ¼ 0.002) were detected in the interaction(season � transect � depth). The number of polychaetefamilies decrease in B1, B2 and C1 stations, mainly duringthe summer (Fig. 3, Table 3). Significant differences weredetected for the interaction among the four factors (year �season � transect � depth) for the diversity (P ¼ 0.0072).These differences were due to the changes of the diversity inthe shallowest stations while the deeper stations are more stable(Fig. 4, Table 3). The lowest diversity is observed in B1, C1 and

B2 stations. In B2 station, this decrease was detected during thesecond year.

Analyzing the MDS plot (Fig. 5), changes were observed inthe structure of polychaete assemblage. There exists a highlyhomogenous group (group I), that includes most of the stationsduring the different sampling periods. Group I is characterizedby the dominance of the families Capitellidae, Paraonidae,Nephtyidae, Syllidae, Lumbrineridae, Maldanidae and Am-pharetidae. The results show a segregation of the station closer

Fig. 1. Location of the sampling sites used in the study. (B ¼ transect next to the discharge, A ¼ transect located North of discharge, C ¼ transect located South of

discharge; 1 ¼ sites located at 4 m, 2 ¼ sites located at 10 m, 3 ¼ sites located at 15 m).

242 Y. Del-Pilar-Ruso et al. / Environmental Pollution 156 (2008) 240e250


Table 1

Summary of physical characteristics at each station during each sampling time

Station Year Season Salinity Depth (m) pH O.M (%) Gravel (%) Coarse sand (%) Medium sand (%) Fine sand (%) Mud (%)

A1 2004 Winter 37.93 4 7.88 3.2 48 28 11 9 4

Summer 38.38 4 7.34 5 5 9 15 49 22

2005 Winter 38.2 4 7.49 1.56 0.40 0.62 0.46 75.19 23.33

Summer 37.4 4 7.76 6.35 10.2 5.1 8.9 63.6 12.2

A2 2004 Winter 38.09 10 7.45 7.76 13 8 5 24 50

Summer 37.64 10 7.52 6 5 5 6 41 43

2005 Winter 37.77 10 7.48 7.09 1.04 1.04 1.56 9.90 86.46

Summer 37.3 10 7.45 2.41 31.6 27.1 10.6 21.3 9.3

A3 2004 Winter 38.89 15 7.7 6.36 6 2 3 20 69

Summer 38.095 15 7.51 5.4 7 3 4 34 52

2005 Winter 38.65 15 7.07 5.92 3.41 3.68 3.23 30.79 58.89

Summer 37.5 15 7.14 5.06 2.8 2.6 2.3 31.2 61.1

B1 2004 Winter 40.56 4 7.43 3.51 12 12 20 9 47

Summer 40.66 4 7.2 3.4 3 4 9 49 35

2005 Winter 40.62 4 7.32 4.23 2.77 5.45 31.24 26.76 33.79

Summer 40.69 4 7.36 2.36 8.50 8.44 29.97 33.99 19.09

B2 2004 Winter 39.27 10 7.79 3 14 48 15 9 14

Summer 38.65 10 7.44 6.5 7 18 6 25 44

2005 Winter 39.01 10 7.32 2.60 0.43 1.52 0.82 37.84 59.40

Summer 38.51 10 7.65 2.42 44.43 45.64 6.41 1.88 1.64

B3 2004 Winter 38.5 15 7.48 8.3 8 6 7 21 58

Summer 37.9 15 7.42 10.4 5 7 5 29 54

2005 Winter 38.3 15 7.19 7.66 1.85 1.26 1.85 19.96 75.09

Summer 37.7 15 7.01 6.32 7.87 4.67 5.40 26.53 55.54

C1 2004 Winter 38.06 4 7.76 2.5 2 2 7 62 26

Summer 37.88 4 7.68 1 1 1 4 86 8

2005 Winter 37.46 4 7.37 1.98 2.51 18.72 42.00 32.60 4.17

Summer 37.1 4 7.76 1.13 0.20 2.58 9.02 77.38 10.83

C2 2004 Winter 38.06 10 7.94 4.8 12 12 6 26 44

Summer 37.88 10 7.4 3.7 1 1 4 19 70

2005 Winter 37.46 10 7.29 6.02 4.11 8.94 8.23 15.38 63.33

Summer 37.1 10 7.46 2.56 0.90 1.63 2.25 52.02 43.20

C3 2004 Winter 38.64 15 7.75 8.3 10 5 4 24 57

Summer 38.17 15 7.36 22.7 12 6 8 32 42

2005 Winter 38.15 15 7.33 5.05 1.36 3.65 3.08 31.09 60.82

Summer 37.6 15 7.18 14.77 6.29 4.47 5.08 24.55 59.61

O.M, organic matter; grain sizes (gravel: >2 mm, coarse sand: 2 mm e 500 mm, medium sand: 500 mm e 250 mm, fine sand: 250 mme63 mm and mud: <63 mm).

Table 2

Results of ANOVAs of the structural parameters: abundance, richness and diversity of Polychaete assemblage

Source DF Abundance Richness Diversity

MS F MS F MS F

Year 1 40960.3333 0.10ns 85.3333 8.90* 3.1042 10.52*

Season 1 434975.1481 1.01ns 171.2593 17.87* 8.4280 28.55*

Transect 2 2486576.0370 5.80* 178.1204 18.59* 3.3925 11.49*

Depth 2 5493990.7037 12.82* 558.5648 58.29* 18.4731 62.59*

Ye � Se 1 21448.9259 0.05ns 7.2593 0.76ns 0.0828 0.28ns

Ye � Tr 2 103899.1111 0.24ns 15.5278 1.62ns 0.1534 0.52ns

Ye � De 2 1383025.0000 3.23ns 24.5278 2.56ns 1.3814 4.68ns

Se � Tr 2 1160771.3704 2.71ns 38.1759 3.98* 0.9157 3.10ns

Se � De 2 607698.8148 1.42ns 17.3981 1.82ns 1.8055 6.12*

Tr � De 4 1750695.6481 4.08* 61.3565 6.51* 0.8903 3.02ns

Ye � Se � Tr 2 535922.3704 1.25ns 0.9537 0.10ns 0.6489 2.20ns

Ye � Se � De 2 342578.8148 0.80ns 20.2870 2.12ns 0.4507 1.53ns

Ye � Tr � De 4 428001.1944 1.00ns 6.3472 0.66ns 0.4427 1.50ns

Se � Tr � De 4 583329.3704 1.36ns 44.9398 4.69* 1.1255 3.81*

Ye � Se � Tr � De 4 414566.5093 0.97ns 18.3565 1.92ns 1.1273 3.82*

RES 72

Total 107

* significant differences; ns no significant difference; RES ¼ Residual; F of each factor ¼MS factor/MS residual because all the factors are orthogonal.



to the discharge (B1) and a segregation of the C1 station, withregard to the stations included in group I, from the beginningof the activity (Fig. 5). Paraonidae, Nephtyidae, Capitellidae,Spionidae, Ampharetidae and Syllidae were the familiesresponsible for the dissimilarities between station B1 andgroup I. These dissimilarities increased between years: 2004(80.16% in the winter and 75.56%, in the summer) and 2005(89.94%, in winter and 88.49%, in the summer). Differencesbetween station C1 and group I are due to changes in thefamilies Spionidae, Capitellidae, Nephtyidae, Paraonidae,Ampharetidae, Glyceridae, Magelonidae, Sigalionidae andSyllidae. An increment of the dissimilarity was also observedbetween years: 2004 (68.28% in the winter and 84.05%, in thesummer) and 2005 (95.89%, in the winter and 88.25%, in thesummer). Segregation from the group I was also detected instation B2 during the last survey.

SIMPER analyses (Table 4) showed that in stations B1 andB2 the abundance of some families such as Nephtyidae andSpionidae decreased considerably during the first months ofthe discharge; whilst the Ampharetidae family decreased or

disappeared. By contrast, Capitellidae and Syllidae showedcertain resistance at the beginning of the study, theirabundance decreasing with time (Table 3). Paraonidae seemsnot to have been affected by the presence of brine discharge.

A positive correlation is observed among the Polycahetaabundances and the factors depth (Rho ¼ 0.31; P < 0.01),organic matter (Rho ¼ 0.32; P < 0.01), gravels (Rho ¼ 0.23;P < 0.05), coarse sands (Rho ¼ 0.19; P < 0.05), mediumsands (Rho ¼ 0.40; P < 0.01), fine sands (Rho ¼ 0.24; P <0.05), muds (Rho ¼ 0.51; P < 0.01), as well as with salinity(Rho ¼ 0.27; P < 0.05) (Fig. 6).

4. Discussion

Desalination is an activity that induced a new impact, brinedischarge, which may affect benthic communities due to the

Fig. 2. Mean ( � SE) abundance of Polychaete assemblage at all stations, for

each season (winter and summer) and for each year (2004 and 2005).

Table 3

Summary of the results of SNK

Tr � De* Abundance

Factors Level SNK

Tr (De) 1 A > B ¼ C

2 B < C

De (Tr) B 1 ¼ 2 < 3

C 1 < 2 ¼ 3

Se � Tr � De* Richness

Factors Level SNK

Se (tr � De) A 1 S > W

C 2 S > W

Tr (Se � De) S 1 A > B ¼ C

S 2 B < A ¼ C

De (Se � Tr) W A 1 < 2 ¼ 3

W B 1 < 2 ¼ 3

S B 1 ¼ 2 < 3

Ye � Se � Tr � De* Diversity

Factors Level SNK

Ye (Se � Tr � De) W A 1 04 > 05

W B 2 04 > 05

W C 1 04 > 05

S B 1 04 > 05

Se (Ye � Tr � De) 04 A 1 S > W

04 A 2 S > W

05 C 1 S > W

De (Ye � Se � Tr) 04 W B 1 > 2 ¼ 3

04 W C 1 > 2 ¼ 3

04 S B 3 > 1

05 W A 1 < 2 ¼ 3

05 W B 1 ¼ 2 < 3

05 W C 1 < 2 ¼ 3

05 S B 1 < 2 ¼ 3

05 S C 1 < 2 ¼ 3

Tr (Ye � Se � De) 04 W 1 A > B

04 S 1 A > B ¼ C

04 S 2 B < A ¼ C

05 W 1 B > A ¼ C

05 W 2 A > B

05 S 1 A > C > B

05 S 2 B < A ¼ C

Four fixed orthogonal factors considered: Year (04 ¼ 2004 and 05 ¼ 2005),

Season, with two levels (S ¼ summer and W ¼ winter); Transect, with three

levels (A, B, C) and Depth, with three levels (1 ¼ 4 m, 2 ¼ 10 m and

3 ¼ 15 m).



higher density of the brine. This increase of salinity may affectthe polychaete assemblage. Despite the fact that the role ofpolychaetes as indicators for assessing organic pollution iswell known (Reish, 1957; Bellan, 1964; Pearson andRosenberg, 1978; Tsutsumi, 1990; Bitar, 1982; Pocklingtonand Wells, 1992; Elias et al., 2003, 2006), there are gaps inour knowledge as regards salinity effects. We have observedthat desalination activity causes a decrease in abundance, rich-ness and diversity in polychaete assemblage of the study area,firstly in the vicinity of the outfall (B1), where the influence ofbrine discharge is higher (Fig. 5) and in addition, it causes animpoverishment of community. This decrease was shown to bemarked during the second year of the activity and in wintermonths. Nevertheless, this decrease is not observed in thedeepest stations. There are probably more stable communitiesat 15 m than in the shallowest depths, where the changes couldbe induced by a higher fluctuation of environmental variables.As well as in B1 community, polychaete assemblage changesin B2 and C1 stations. In station B2, located at 400 m from thedischarge and at 10 m depth, similar decreases were observed

Fig. 3. Mean ( � SE) number of Polychaete assemblage at all stations, for each

season (winter and summer) and for each year (2004 and 2005).Fig. 4. Mean ( � SE) diversity of Polychaete assemblage at all stations, for

each season (winter and summer) and for each year (2004 and 2005).

Fig. 5. MDS plot using BrayeCurtis similarities, using non-transformed

Polychaete abundance data.



after the second year of activity (July 2005) and may be inter-preted as an extension of the area of influence of the discharge.However, sampling over a longer period will be necessary toconfirm that this trend is consistent with time. These changescould be caused by the influence of brine since they areobserved in the stations with higher salinity values, althoughit would be wise to be cautious due to the heterogeneity ofthe sediment and the north-south pollution gradient of thearea. Thus, it is difficult to single out the effect of salinity.Changes in the composition of the polychaete assemblageobserved in the station C1 are probably due to other factors,unrelated to brine discharge since the salinity at this stationdoes not exceed 38 psu, although it may by affected periodi-cally by the plume depending on the weather. A continuousrecord of salinity in this station will be needed. In spite ofthe heterogeneity of the area, most stations and sampling timesare grouped in MDS. Therefore, the clearest effect of brine isthe consistent change in the polychaete assemblage in stationB1 at the site of the discharge. This can be seen in the MDS inFig. 5, where the distance between station B1 and the restconsistently increases with time.

Polychaete assemblage changes in the station adjacent tothe brine discharge show the existence of different sensitivitylevels in polychaete families to brine impact. It is necessary tostudy the behaviour of these families for early detection of thisnew perturbation. Ampharetidae seem to be the most sensible

family in relation to increase of salinity and they disappear inthe first perturbation phase. Nephtyidae and Spionidae alsoseem to be sensitive because their abundances decrease atthe beginning of the activity, but they do not disappear en-tirely. It is necessary to highlight the presence of Capitellidaeand Syllidae. They show high levels of abundance at thebeginning of the discharge, showing some resilience, butthey descend abruptly under conditions of long-term stress.Syllidae is affected and its abundance is reduced before thatof Capitellidae. These two families show similar behaviourto this impact but while Syllidae is considered a good qualityarea indicator (Bellan, 1964; Bitar, 1982; Elias et al., 2003),Capitellidae is considered to be a family that indicates pollutedareas (Reish, 1957; Tsutsumi, 1990; Pocklington and Wells,1992; Marcos Diego, 2001). In the case of Paraonidae, we ob-served that the abundance of this family changes over time. Itsabundance even increases in the station next to the brinedischarge in the latest sampling.

The presence or absence of some species, or even families,is known to be an indicator of contamination (Elias et al.,2006). Grassle and Grassle (1974) found that some polychaetespecies were highly opportunistic and responded rapidly toenvironmental perturbations. The proposed bioindicators arealmost as numerous as the investigators that have approachedthe problem (especially when they include indicative species)(Salas, 2002). For these, it would be necessary to continue

Table 4

Summary of the results of SIMPER

Families Group I B1.W.04 AD:80.16 B1.S.04 AD:75.52 B1.W.05 AD:89.94 B1.S.05 AD:88.49

Av. Abund Av. Abund Contrib % Av. Abund Contrib % Av. Abund Contrib % Av. Abund Contrib %

Paraonidae 139.92 6.58 12.18 26.34 11.04 0 11.92 32.92 10.2

Nephtyidae 139.09 0 11.53 13.17 10.76 0 10.84 0 11.19

Capitellidae 181.07 79.01 10.09 85.6 9.95 6.58 14.65 6.58 15.15

Spionidae 63.65 0 7.18 0 7.14 26.34 6.9 0 7.42

Ampharetidae 83.13 0 6.75 0 6.9 0 6.34 0 6.54

Syllidae 80.38 79.01 6.21 6.58 6.07 6.58 5.58 6.58 5.75

Families Group I B2.W.04 AD:63.91 B2.S.04 AD:66.2 B2.W.05 AD:64.30 B2.S.05 AD:84.08


Syllidae 80.34 237.04 14.33 32.92 4.97 6.58 6.22 6.58 5.13

Dorvilleidae 38.96 210.7 13.77 / / / / 131.69 8.25

Capitellidae 181.07 39.51 10.56 46.09 12.51 26.34 14.1 0 13.82

Nephtyidae 139.09 46.09 8.07 144.86 11 138.27 10.79 0 9.97

Paraonidae 139.92 59.26 7.36 39.51 10.24 98.77 8.63 0 10.84

Ampharetidae 83.13 6.58 5.58 0 7.04 0 7.07 6.58 5.64

Spionidae 63.65 13.17 4.96 13.17 6.51 6.58 6.53 0 5.82

Families Group I C1.W.04 AD:68.28 C1.S.04 AD:84.05 C1.W.05 AD:95.89 C1.S.05 AD:88.25


Spionidae 63.65 427.98 27.82 0 5.06 6.58 14.67 0 6.56

Capitellidae 181.07 39.51 10.18 39.51 9.77 6.58 14.67 39.51 11.36

Nephtyidae 139.09 46.09 7.71 32.92 7.58 0 10.77 6.58 9.9

Paraonidae 139.92 138.27 6.77 0 9.79 0 11.89 0 11.41

Ampharetidae 83.13 0 5.58 0 5.31 0 6.3 0 6.1

Glyceridae 17.56 / / 197.53 13.6 0 6 / /

Magelonidae 18.11 / / 92.18 6.02 / / / /

Sigalionidae 3.57 / / 72.43 5.21 / / / /

Syllidae 80.38 / / 0 5.08 / / 6.58 5.36

Paralacydoniidae 1.1 / / / / 65.84 5.95

B1, B2 and C1 are the station whose segregate of the total community (group I) during the two years (2004 and 2005) and during the two period (winter and

summer), Av. Abund ¼ average abundance, Contrib. % ¼ percentage of contribution, AD ¼ average dissimilarity.



Fig. 6. Bubble plot correlating Polychaete assemblage and abiotic factors (organic matter: bubble maximum ¼ 22.7%, bubble minimum ¼ 3.2%; salinity: bubble

max ¼ 41 psu, bubble min ¼ 37 psu; depth: bubble max ¼ 15 m, bubble min ¼ 4 m; gravel: bubble max ¼ 48%, bubble min ¼ 0.40%; coarse sand: bubble

max ¼ 45.64, bubble min ¼ 0.62; medium sand: bubble max ¼ 42%, bubble min ¼ 0.46%; fine sand: bubble max ¼ 77.38%, bubble min ¼ 9% and mud:

bubble max ¼ 75.09%, bubble min ¼ 4%).



analyzing the effect of the brine discharge with respect tospace and time. It would allow long-temporary series to beobtained which in turn could provide indications of the com-munities’ changes with the presence of this type of alterationand, in this way, to facilitate the definition of family indicatorsof salinity contamination. Changes observed in the polychaeteassemblages demonstrate that analysis of the impact of hightaxonomic levels show interesting results. Differences in com-munities have been detected in other studies where fauna hasbeen aggregated to higher taxonomic levels, family or evenphylum, (Warwick, 1988a,b; Ferraro and Cole, 1992; Olsgardet al., 1997; Del Pilar Ruso et al., 2007). Warwick (1988a,b)proposed that the ability to separate the ‘‘signal’’ of an impactfrom the ‘‘noise’’ of natural environmental variables (e.g.depth, and sediment grain size) is more clear cut and reliableat taxonomic level higher than species. Studies of marinebenthic communities have shown that pollution impacts canoften be detected without identifying taxa to the species level,thus saving considerable time and cost (Dethier and Schoch,2006). Ferraro and Cole (1995) and De Biasi et al. (2003)both found that the cost of family level identification was50e55% less than species level identification. One way ofreducing the cost of benthic surveys could be to shorten thetime needed to identify the animals, and reduce the expertiserequired for their identification, by using a lower level oftaxonomic resolution, that is, identifying specimens to highertaxonomic level as family (Olsgard et al., 1997). Identificationto the family level also avoids errors in identification, whichare much more common at the species level (Dethier andSchoch, 2006).

In order to minimize the impact of reverse osmosis desa-lination plants it has been recommended that the siting ofbrine discharges in areas containing seagrass meadows orother ecosystems that are potentially sensitive, should beavoided, and instead be restricted to zones characterised bysandy bottoms with a lack of vegetation (Sanchez-Lizasoet al., 2008), as is the case of the Alicante Desalination plant.However we have observed that brine discharge also changessoft bottom assemblages. For this reason it would be neces-sary to adopt any measure that may increase the mixing ofthe brine and reduce the surface affected by the hyperhalineplume. In this sense, the prior mixing with seawater andthe use of diffusers have proved effective in reducing the sur-face affected by SWRO desalination plants (Fari~nas et al.,2005).

5. Conclusion

Studies on the effects of brine discharge on Polychaete as-semblage of sandy bottoms are scarce, although, these habitatsare to be preferred for the placement of brine discharges, andauthors like Hopner and Widdelberg (1996) have defined theseareas as those with least sensitivity to the effects of salinity.However, we have observed that desalination activity causesa decrease in abundance, richness and diversity in polychaeteassemblage of the study area, firstly in the vicinity of outfall. Itis evident that different sensitivity levels to this new impact in

polychaete families exist. In order to minimize the impact, it isnecessary to adopt any measure that may increase the mixingof the brine and reduce the surface affected by the hyperhalineplume.

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Mancomunidad de los Ca-nales de Taibilla. Thanks to all the staff of the Marine BiologyLaboratory at the University of Alicante, for their assistancewith this work, particularly Yolanda Fernandez-Torquemada,Marta Dıaz-Valdes, Cristina Celdran Martinez, Angel Loya,and Yolanda Mugica. We also acknowledge the contributionsof the reviewers of this manuscript and Dr. Ian Woollard, forreviewing the English version.

Appendix A.

Families found in this study and their absolute and relative abundance

Polychaete

families

Winter

2004

Summer

2004

Winter

2005

Summer

2005

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

(n�

ind.)

(%) (n�

ind.)

(%) (n�

ind.)

(%) (n�

ind.)

(%)

Acoetidae 0 0 1 0,08 0 0 0 0

Amphinomidae 0 0 2 0,15 0 0 0 0

Ampharetidae 38 3 76 5,75 30 2,5 168 11,9

Aphroditidae 6 0,5 6 0,45 0 0 4 0,3

Arenicolidae 1 0,1 0 0,00 0 0 0 0

Capitellidae 183 15 209 15,82 144 12,0 187 13,2

Chaetopteridae 0 0 0 0,00 11 0,9 51 3,6

Cirratulidae 29 2 23 1,74 70 5,8 89 6,3

Cossuridae 16 1 15 1,14 0 0 8 0,6

Dorvilleidae 48 4 36 2,73 27 2,2 84 5,9

Eunicidae 53 4 74 5,60 13 1,1 53 3,7

Flabelligeridae 12 1 50 3,79 6 0,5 11 0,8

Glyceridae 34 3 57 4,31 17 1,4 16 1,1

Goniadidae 2 0,2 3 0,23 0 0,0 0 0,0

Hermionidae 0 0,0 1 0,08 0 0,0 0 0,0

Hesionidae 9 0,8 1 0,08 2 0,2 1 0,1

Lumbrineridae 21 1,8 50 3,79 103 8,6 67 4,7

Lysateridae 4 0,3 0 0,00 0 0,0 0 0,0

Magelonidae 2 0,2 24 1,82 26 2,2 30 2,1

Maldanidae 50 4 56 4,24 58 4,8 36 2,5

Nephtyidae 161 14 76 5,75 219 18,2 116 8,2

Nereididae 17 1 51 3,86 15 1,2 32 2,3

Oenonidae 0 0 24 1,82 0 0,0 0,00 0,0

Onuphidae 13 1 23 1,74 10 0,8 31 2,2

Opheliidae 0 0 0 0,00 6 0,5 1 0,1

Orbiniidae 8 0,7 13 0,98 10 0,8 15 1,1

Oweniidae 5 0,4 3 0,23 19 1,6 115 8,1

Paralacydoniidae 0 0,0 0 0,00 4 0,3 10 0,7

Paraonidae 207 17 156 11,81 121 10,1 69 4,9

Pectinariidae 0 0 30 2,27 4 0,3 2 0,1

Phyllodocidae 19 2 10 0,76 16 1,3 13 0,9

Pholoidae 0 0 10 0,76 2 0,2 3 0,2

Pilargidae 0 0 0 0,00 6 0,5 4 0,3

Polynoidae 3 0,3 13 0,98 11 0,9 3 0,2

Questidae 1 0,1 1 0,08 0 0,0 0 0,0

Sabellariidae 0 0,0 1 0,08 1 0,1 15 1,1

Sabellidae 48 4 4 0,30 6 0,5 11 0,8

Scalibregmatidae 0 0 54 4,09 2 0,2 0 0,0



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(continued )

Polychaete

families

Winter

2004

Summer

2004

Winter

2005

Summer

2005

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

ab.

Rel.

Ab.

Ab.

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(n�

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Serpulidae 6 0,5 15 1,14 9 0,7 16 1,1

Sphaerodoridae 2 0,2 1 0,08 0 0,0 0 0,0

Spionidae 102 9 9 0,68 178 14,8 18 1,3

Sigalionidae 1 0,1 19 1,44 0 0,0 5 0,4

Syllidae 80 7 105 7,95 51 4,2 117 8,3

Terebellidae 6 0,5 18 1,36 4 0,3 13 0,9

Trichobranchidae 1 0,1 1 0,08 0 0,0 3 0,2

Total 1188 100% 1321 100% 1201 100% 1417 100%



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Effects of a brine discharge over soft bottom Polychaeta assemblage

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