Macrobenthic community responses to long-term environmental change in an east Australian sub-tropical estuary

Explanations for long-term trends in abundance and richness were determined through correlation analyses with key environmental variables. Both species richness and abundance were highly correlated (positively) with turbidity measurements observed 4 months previously. This finding suggests that high levels of turbidity promote recruitment and growth of benthic organisms in Port Curtis. Strong correlations between regional rainfall, freshwater inflow, nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations, further support the hypothesis that recent changes in benthic productivity (as defined by total infaunal abundance) within the estuary are principally the result of long-term climatic cycles including El Niño events.