Effects of Nuclear Power Plant Thermal Effluent on Marine Sessile Invertebrate Communities in Southern Taiwan
Yalan Chou, Institute of Marine Biology, and NCKU-NSYSU Research Center for Ocean Environment and Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University, 70 Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, R.O.C.
Ta-Yu Lin, Institute of Marine Biology, and NCKU-NSYSU Research Center for Ocean Environment and Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University, 70 Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, R.O.C.
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Institute of Marine Geology and Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University, 70 Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, R.O.C.
Li-Lian Liu, Institute of Marine Biology, and NCKU-NSYSU Research Center for Ocean Environment and Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University, 70 Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, R.O.C.Follow
The present study aimed at determining the impact of cooling water discharge from a Nuclear Power Plant in Kenting, Taiwan on the recruitment patterns of marine invertebrates. Field experiments were conducted over a six-year period in the vicinity of the power plant, with six control sites, five at influent areas, one at reference site, and three experimental sites at effluent areas. In general, among the monitoring sites, polychaetes and bryozoans were the most abundant organisms, and their recruitment on settlement plates was always higher in influent than in effluent areas. Partially as a result of a 5-week accidental shutdown of the power plant in the early spring of 2001, a higher recruitment of both polychaetes and bryozoans, comparable to that in influent areas, was observed in the spring and summer of 2001, but only at site Efflu, one of the three effluent areas. Albeit right nearby, site Efflu2 intriguingly showed no such increase in recruitment, MPT as well. Based on the monitoring results, it is strongly suggested that the different patterns of recruitment in the effluent areas can not just be attributed to thermal effects; on the contrary, other physicochemical disturbances seem to have been at play.
Chou, Yalan; Lin, Ta-Yu; Chen, Chen-Tung Arthur; and Liu, Li-Lian (2004) "Effects of Nuclear Power Plant Thermal Effluent on Marine Sessile Invertebrate Communities in Southern Taiwan," Journal of Marine Science and Technology: Vol. 12: Iss. 5, Article 12.
Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons