INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WETLANDS AND SUSTAINABILITY 2007

ECOLOGICAL POLLUTION STRESS ON BENTHIC INFAUNA MACROINFAUNAL

COMMUNITY AT THE MAI PO AND INNER DEEP BAY RAMSAR SITE IN HONG

KONG

Pingping Shen, Ji-Dong Gu*, and Jessie Lai

jdgu@hkucc.hku.hk

Abstract

The Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay wetland is the largest remaining coastal wetland

system in Hong Kong, supporting over 380 resident, passage migrant and introduced

bird species. It was designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the

Ramsar Convention in September 1995. The mean abundance of the benthic

infauna ranged from 7,295 to 77,795 individuals·m-2 and the biomass 13.3 to 355.4 g

wet wt·m-2. In all 56 infaunal species, mainly detritus feeding polychaetes,

oligochaetes, gastropods, bivalves and crustaceans were identified. The infaunal

community was characterized by low species diversity (H’ = 0.84-1.84) and high

dominance (J = 0.42-0.78) of a few small, pollution-tolerant taxa, with an average

individual wet weight of 4.8 mg. Community structure showed significant spatial-

temporal variations during the first-year monitoring.

Univariate diversity indices, multivariate non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS)

and the graphical method of k-dominace and ABC curves were used to detect

possible ecological stress in macroinfaunal community structure in response to the

natural and anthropogenic disturbance. A synthesis of various techniques indicated

a rank order of ecological stress of the 5 monitoring stations across the mudflat, i.e.

B1>C>A=B3>B2. This was neither consistent with distance from the major pollution

*Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR
 INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WETLANDS AND SUSTAINABILITY 2007

source of Shenzhen River nor with the measured sediment concentration gradient of

pollutants. The polluted situation at the Taim Bei Tsui site C which was the furthest

from the Shenzhen River mouth, was not unexpected with regard to organic waste

discharge from the nearby pig farms and the influence of the Shan Pui River. We

concluded that pollution effects on the mudflat community were a function of different

pollution sources (local and non-local), sediment granulometry, typography and

hydrodynamic condition. It is crucial for an ecological monitoring programme to

identify the interactive effects between the local and non-local pollution sources and

the hydrography of monitoring sites.

Keywords :

*Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR