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MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES OF THE SEDIMENTS OF HAMILTON BAY AND ADJACENT LAKE ONTARIO
Author(s) -
Johnson M. G.,
Matheson D. H.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1968.13.1.0099
Subject(s) - profundal zone , tubifex tubifex , bay , benthic zone , tubifex , littoral zone , ecology , sediment , environmental science , abundance (ecology) , chironomus , plume , invertebrate , species richness , oceanography , geology , biology , chironomidae , geography , geomorphology , larva , meteorology
The distribution and abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates in Hamilton Bay and adjacent Lake Ontario were related to physical and chemical characteristics of the water and sediments and to hydrodynamic factors. The profundal sediments of Hamilton Bay, rich in organic matter, contained an abundance of Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri and Tubifex tubifex, while lesser numbers of five Limnodrilus species occupied poorer sublittoral sediments. No macroinvertebrate community occurred in sediments containing more than 25% Fe 2 O 3 . The combination of more favorable water chemistry, circulation, and moderately rich sediments near the canal connecting the bay with Lake Ontario increased biomass of oligochaetes over that in the richer, profundal sediments of the main basin of the bay. In Lake Ontario the oligochaetes, L. hoffmeisteri, T. tubifex, and Stylodrilus heringianus and the amphipod, Pontoporeia affinis increased in numbers with increasing depth and richness of sediments. Emissions of bay water to Lake Ontario clearly influenced the specific composition of macroinvertebrate communities. The community of several oligochaetes and Chironomus attenuatus found in the lake near the canal resembled the sublittoral bay community. T. tubifex occurred in the lake only in the plume of rich sediments projecting into the lake from the canal, while sphacriid populations were more abundant and contained more species in the sandy or loamy sediments outside the plume.