The use of benthic mesocosms for the assessment of sediment contamination

The diagnostic capability of changes in the benthic macroinvertebrate commu nity composition to determine the cause in contaminated sediments were addr essed using box core mesocosms subjected to cadmium, atrazine and nutrient enrichment. Intact cores of lake sediment were collected from Lake Erie at four occasions during 1996 and were returned to laboratory where they were maintained and manipulated, The benthic community composition of the artifi cially polluted mesocosms was compared with field data, collected at the sa me time as the intact cores, and to untreated control boxes. Community comp osition was related to the measured environmental variables using multi-dim ensional scaling (MDS) and principle axis correlation (PCC). Community resp onses to different treatments were both different and consistent, suggestin g that the community structure of these mesocosms could be used to identify the primary source of impact. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.