Abstract: A seasonal investigation was conducted on the dynamic changes of benthic macrofaunal community in the three types of intertidal habitats, i.e., bare flat, mangrove forest, and Cyperus malaccensis saltmarsh, in Lianzhou Bay in January, April, July, and October, 2011, and the Brey’s empirical formula was applied to estimate the secondary productivity of benthic macrofaunal community in the three habitats. A total 156 species belonging to 8 phyla of intertidal benthic macrofauna were collected, among which, 136, 85, and 29 species were recorded in bare flat, mangrove forest, and saltmarsh habitats, respectively. The average species abundance per sampling station was 9.5±4.8 species in bare flat, 9.5±3.9 species in mangrove forest, and 5.9±19 species in saltmarsh, respectively. In all the three habitats, the percentages of different categories to total species followed the same decreasing order of Mollusk > Arthropod > Annelid > Chordate > other categories. The community structure of the benthic macrofauna in saltmarsh had smaller change, with Ilyoplax ningpoensis significantly dominated. In mangrove forest and bare flat, the dominant species changed with the water salinity. In the intertidal zone of Lianzhou Bay, the average secondary productivity of the benthic macrofaunal community was 15.88 g·m^-2·a^-1, and that in bare flat, mangrove forest, and saltmarsh was 16.16 g·m^-2·a^-1, 997 g·m^-2·a^-1, and 3.88 g·m^-2·a^-1, respectively. The average P/B ratio in the intertidal zone was 0.70, and that in bare flat, mangrove forest, and saltmarsh was 0.70, 0.65, and 1.02, respectively. The annual secondary production in the intertidal zone was 14623 t (FM). Water salinity and vegetation type were the major factors affecting the community structure of the intertidal benthic macrofauna, and further, the spatial distribution of the secondary productivity of the benthic macrofauna in Lianzhou Bay.

Key words: environmental impact, ecological effect, interpretative structural modeling (ISM), coal-electricity integration., cumulative effect