To understand the impact of rainfall on the functional group characteristics of macrobenthic communities in the shellfish farming area of Xiaoqing River estuary in Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, survey data of rainfall were collected in July (pre-rainfall) and August (post-rainfall) 2019 and analyzed. By integrating Shannon-Wiener niche breadth, Pianka niche overlap, and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the variation in dominant microbenthic species and their environmental drivers were examined. Results are as follows. (1) Eight dominant species were identified, of which Moerella iridescens and Nephthys oligobranchia were consistently dominant in the two months. (2) Significant shifts in life-form and feeding functional groups were observed: July was dominated by endobenthic-planktivores (mean density 265 ind./m2, 71%), while August shifted to carnivores (mean density 103 ind./m2, 58%), with the GS/GSB ratio increasing from 0 to 2/3. (3) Dominant species exhibited marked niche breadth variation (0.494~2.945), featuring coexistence of broad-niche species (e.g., Nephthys oligobranchia) and narrow-niche specialists (e.g., Potamocorbula laevis), with weak interspecific competition (60% of species pairs showed a narrow niche overlap value (<0.3). (4) CCA revealed that the salinity (32.7% explained variance, P<0.01) was the primary driver of functional group succession (GS/GSB ratio) and niche differentiation. The stenohaline bivalve Potamocorbula laevis (optimal salinity 22~34) served as a bioindicator for salinity thresholds. This study shows that rainfall-induced environmental changes (salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll a) critically drive functional group succession and niche partitioning in macrobenthos, providing a scientific basis for conservation and sustainable utilization of benthic resources in the Xiaoqing River estuary.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |