| San Vicente bay is a heavily industrialised bay located in central Chile, which has a sand beach extending from an area of recreational use in the south to an area of industrial use and discharge in the north. A survey of the macrofauna in the intertidal zone revealed a non-homogeneous distribution; a maximum of five invertebrate species were found with all five only occurring in one of six transects down the beach. The density ranged from 0 to 188 individuals m-2, with the highest density at the recreational end. The most common species, Emerita analoga (Stimpson), was chosen to study the macrofaunal response to beach morphodynamics, physicochemical parameters and metal concentrations. The E. analoga distribution was not significantly correlated with the... |
