PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

A study was carried out in the Forth estuary (Scotland) to determine the impact of industrial effluents on the meiofaunal density of an estuarine mudflat, through a survey of the meiofauna communities and certain chemical parameters. The mudflat has been subjected to oily effluents from the B.P. Refinery Ltd., effluents from B.P. Chemicals Ltd. (chiefly organic solvents and ammonium salts) and two sewage discharges. The refinery and chemical discharges were shown to have a marked impact on the density of meiofauna. This was most marked near the points of discharge at the top of the shore where the high organic content caused the formation of black, reduced sediment below a depth of 1 - 2mm in the summer. Meiofaunal density was grossly reduced. It seemed that reductions in nematode and copepod densities were common responses to the presence of oil, although only when present at high concentrations. At Kinneil, the toxic and physical effects of the oil on the meiofauna seemed less important than the indirect effects of the oil through its production of oxygen-deficient, sulphurous sediments.