Biological trait analysis of nematode communityupon anthropogenic disturbances in a subtropical harbour environment

Apart from using species diversity and abundance data for analysisof nematode community in response to environmental conditions, recentresearch has focused on the examination of nematode life history andbiological traits to reflect the key functional attributes and infer theeffects of environmental variables and human activities. Based on a rangeof biological traits, including feeding type, tail shape, adult body length,body shape and life history, the response of nematode community uponabatement of sewage pollution in a subtropical harbour environment wasinvestigated in a spatio-temporal scale. Results showed that the benthicenvironment at the inner-harbour sampling sites was still polluted,according to the composition of deposit and epigrowth feeders, bodyshape and length, and the combined biological trait analysis. However,data from the colonizer-persister scale were not consistent with the aboveobservations. The present findings suggested that biological trait analysiscan be complementary to community composition analysis in decipheringthe response of nematode communities from the cessation of sewagepollution, while the use of a single trait or index should be cautioned.