Measuring the impact of wharf construction on the Antarctic Benthos

Robinson, Ben J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7450-686X; Hughes, Kevin A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-726X; Seaton, David; Morley, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7761-660X. 2024 Measuring the impact of wharf construction on the Antarctic Benthos. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 12, 1383362. 9, pp. 10.3389/fevo.2024.1383362

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Text (Open Access) © 2024 Robinson, Hughes, Seaton and Morley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. fevo-2-1383362.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Shallow water Antarctic marine macroepifaunal assemblages live in one of the most naturally disturbed marine environments due to the impact of icebergs scouring the seafloor. They are, however, amongst the least anthropogenically impacted assemblages and are afforded protection under the Antarctic Treaty system. When the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station wharf needed extending to accommodate the newly constructed UK polar research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, a Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) was conducted to assess the impact. The macroepifauna likely to be impacted by the construction was surveyed through ROV videos of five transects, centered on the middle of the construction zone, from 10-100 m deep. A pre-construction survey was completed in March 2017, as part of the CEE impact assessment, and a post-build survey in 2022 (delayed from 2021, and reduced in scope, due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Sedimentation rates were also measured before and during construction and were high during the second summer when the wharf pilings were being back filled with crushed rock. The measured differences between pre- and post-construction assemblages were minor and were not reflected in the overall number of taxa (operational taxonomic units – OTU), or diversity, but there were subtle shifts in species composition. The largest differences in the macroepifauna were a reduction in the number of the common urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri, and seastar, Odontaster validus, and were within expected variability. The small changes detected in the macroepifauna indicate it was minimally impacted and/or recovered in the subsequent two years, therefore during wharf construction the accompanying mitigation measures were robust.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.3389/fevo.2024.1383362
ISSN:	2296-701X
Additional Keywords:	Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation program Work package, project, or programme(s): Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation program Disturbance, Antarctic, Antarctic Treaty, Environmental impact, Construction
Date made live:	10 Jun 2024 11:28 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/537539

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