Marine macrobenthic colonization of mine tailings in Rupert Inlet, British Columbia
Date
1986
Authors
Taylor, Laura Anne
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Abstract
No one successional sequence of taxa or ecological groups was evident in artificial substrate communities. Successional patterns varied seasonally and with substrate type. Random immigration patterns probably also contributed to the variation in succession.
Tailing and control substrates were colonized by similar taxonomic assemblages. However, a tailing substrate retarded the rate of community development. The component of tailings responsible for this has not been identified. Depressed colonization rated in tailings may cause the tailing community to equilibrate at a lower species number than controls. Alternatively, tailings may reach the same equilibrium as cont rols. However, the time to equilibrium in tailings will be longer than in controls.
Macrobenthic communities in Rupert Inlet close to the tailngs outfall or in the main path of the turbidity current are in very early stages of succession. Continual disturbance form tailings discharge is probably responsible for this.