Direct and indirect effects of repeated pollution events on marine hard-substrate assemblages

Abstract

Testing the effects on organisms of a constant exposure to toxicants in uniform environments is unlikely to reflect accurately the majority of toxicant exposures in the field, and environmental managers need tools to help predict impacts especially of pulse toxicant inputs into highly variable natural environments. We investigated the effect of pulse copper pollution events on the development of sessile marine invertebrate assemblages at two sites in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia. Using a field dosing technique we created localized 2-d copper pollution events close to settlement plates. Pulses were delivered every 2, 4, 8, or 16 wk for the duration of the 16-wk experiments, and the a..