Biological attributes of the west hackberry brine disposal site

A Strategic Petroleum Reserve brine disposal site is located 11.4 km off the southwest coast of Louisiana. A grid of stations centered at the brine diffuser was monitored monthly for biological attributes during a 12 month period. Temporal and spatial distributions in species abundances and diversity were measured for the following: 1) macrobenthic invertebrates, 2) fishes and nektonic macrocrustaceans, 3) phytoplankton, and 4) zooplankton. These assemblages were studied relative to physical and chemical variations occurring in the study area. The marine fauna and flora of the diffuser area are characteristic of coastal assemblages of the northwestern Gulf coast. Population fluctuations were attributed to seasonal and hypoxic conditions. The macrobenthic community was dominated by polychaetes and phoronids; the nekters were typical of the white shrimp community; the phytoplankton community was dominated by estuarine and neritic species; and the zooplankton community was dominated by copepods with Penaeus spp. and Brevoortia spp. common in the area.