Comparing the severity of disturbance; a meta-analysis of marine macrobenthic community data

Abstract

Describes a multivariate method of comparing the severity of disturbance to subtidal macrobenthic communities on a common scale. Data on species abundances and biomasses from a variety of stations on the NE Atlantic shelf at which the pollution/disturbance status is known have been aggregated to phylum level and the abundance and biomass data merged using an allometric equation to form a "production' matrix. An ordination (non-metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling) of all these data, combined in a single meta-analysis, produces a configuration with disturbance as its major axis. -from Authors