Effects of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management.

ABSTRACT: Dredging can cause high suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the water column, posing a hazard to filter feeding organisms like sponges as sediment may clog their aquiferous systems and reduce feeding. In order to provide pressure-response values for sponges to SSC and tease apart the cause:effect pathways of dredging pressures, five heterotrophic and phototrophic species were experimentally exposed to a range of dredging-relevant SSC of up to 100 mg L^-1, with light compensation across treatments to ensure that SSC was the primary physical parameter. This study shows that some sponge species exposed to high SSC (≥23 mg L^-1) for extended periods (28 d) have lower survival, increased necrosis and depletion of energy reserves. In contrast, SSC of ≤10 mg L^-1

SUBMITTER: Pineda MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5504051 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature