TY - JOUR T1 - Determining the Ecological Status of Benthic Coastal Communities: A Case in an Anthropized Sub-Arctic Area A1 - Dreujou,Elliot A1 - Desroy,Nicolas A1 - Carrière,Julie A1 - Tréau De Coeli,Lisa A1 - McKindsey,Christopher W. A1 - Archambault,Philippe AD - Institut des Sciences de la Mer, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, QC, Canada AD - Québec-Océan, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada AD - Takuvik Joint Université Laval/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Laboratory, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada AD - Laboratoire Environnement Ressources Bretagne Nord, Institut Français pour la Recherche et l’Exploitation de la Mer, Dinard, France AD - Institut Nordique de Recherche en Environnement et en Santé au Travail, Sept-Îles, QC, Canada AD - Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada AD - Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Mont-Joli, QC, Canada UR - https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00687/79910/ DO - 10.3389/fmars.2021.637546 KW - environmental indicators KW - ecological status KW - coastal benthos KW - macrofauna KW - Gulf of St KW - Lawrence N2 - With the widespread influence of human activities on marine ecosystems, evaluation of ecological status provides valuable information for conservation initiatives and sustainable development. To this end, many environmental indicators have been developed worldwide and there is a growing need to evaluate their performance by calculating ecological status in a wide range of ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This study calculated and contrasted sixteen indicators of ecological status from three methodological categories: abundance measures, diversity parameters and characteristic species. This selection was applied to coastal benthic ecosystems at Sept-Îles (Québec, Canada), an important industrial harbor area in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and related to habitat parameters (organic matter, grain size fractions, and heavy metal concentrations). Nearly all indicators highlighted a generally good ecological status in the study area, where communities presented an unperturbed profile with high taxa and functional diversities and without the dominance of opportunistic taxa. Some correlations with habitat parameters were detected, especially with heavy metals, and bootstrap analyses indicated quite robust results. This study provides valuable information on the application of environmental indicators in Canadian coastal ecosystems, along with insights on their use for environmental assessments. Y1 - 2021/03 PB - Frontiers Media SA JF - Frontiers In Marine Science SN - 2296-7745 VL - 8 ID - 79910 ER -