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Author Analytic: Engle, V.D.; J.L. Hyland; C. Cooksey
Center: CCEHBR
Title Analytic: Effects of Hurricane Katrina on benthic macroinvertebrate communities along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast
Journal Title: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Date of Publication: 2009
Volume ID: 150
Location In Work: 193-209
 Keywords: Hurricane effects; Benthos; Estuarine dynamics; Salinity effects; Gulf of Mexico
 Availability: Jeff.Hyland@noaa.gov
Type: Journal Article
 Abstract: The effects of Hurricane Katrina on benthic fauna and habitat quality in coastal waters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, USA, were assessed in October, 2005, 2 months after the hurricane made landfall between New Orleans, LA and Biloxi, MS. Benthic macrofaunal samples, sediment chemical concentrations, and water quality measurements from 60 sites in Lake Pontchartrain and Mississippi Sound were compared with pre-hurricane conditions from 2000–2004. Post-hurricane benthic communities had significant reductions in numbers of taxa, H' diversity, and abundance as well as shifts in composition and ranking of dominant taxa. These effects were not associated with changes in chemical contamination, organic enrichment of sediments, or hypoxia and were likely due to hurricane-related scouring and changes in salinity.
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