To investigate benthic ecological quality associated with coastal pollution in the Bohai Sea and northern Yellow Sea, a sediment quality triad (SQT) approach was applied. Chemical (six groups of persistent toxic substances (PTSs) and 8 metals and metalloids), toxicological (AhR-mediated potency), and ecological (bacterial and meiofaunal communities) elements were selected and used in an integrated sediment assessment. The benthic meiofaunal community was newly analyzed and used as an additional component of the infaunal community during the SQT. Concentrations of chemicals and potential toxicity in sediments both indicated moderate to severe pollution in the study area, characterized by site-specific and land-uses. In particular, As, DDTs, and bioassay-derived dioxin equivalents exceeded corresponding sediment quality guidelines at nearly all locations. Limited occurrences of meiofaunal taxa (mean = 5.2) and relatively low species diversity, mainly comprised of nematodes (75.3%) and copepods (14.6%), among locations was generally consistent with pollution. The benthic community was consistent with compound-specific responses to gradients of contamination, particularly for As. Densities of two taxa, Nematoda and Nemertea exhibited strong negative correlations with concentrations of As. Compound-, site-, and taxa-specific variability of pollution of sediments was further supported by results of cluster analysis (CA) and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Finally, assessment integrating five benthic quality elements, including: 1) PTSs; 2) metals and metalloids; 3) sediment toxicity; 4) sediment microbiome; and 5) benthic meiofaunal community, explained contamination of sediments associated with land-uses, locality, or habitat. Status of the benthic community could not be explained by single component and their associations were not quantitative. Results of the integrated assessment, considering multiple benthic quality elements were useful to address overall quality of sediment, and were consistent with chemical-, species-, or site-dependent pollution of sediments in the Bohai and Yellow Seas.

为了调查与渤海和黄海北部沿海污染相关的底栖生态质量，采用了沉积物质量三元组（SQT）方法。选择了化学成分（六种持久性有毒物质（PTS）和8种金属和准金属），毒理学成分（AhR介导的效能）和生态学成分（细菌和细菌的群落），并将其用于综合沉积物评估。在SQT期间，对底栖动物的动植物群落进行了新的分析，并将其作为不孕动物群落的其他组成部分。沉积物中化学物质的浓度和潜在的毒性都表明研究区域的中度至重度污染，其特征在于特定地点和土地用途。特别是As，DDT，生物测定衍生的二恶英当量几乎在所有地点都超过了相应的沉积物质量准则。在各个地点之间，很少发生的人参类群的发生（平均值为5.2），物种多样性相对较低，主要由线虫（75.3％）和co足类（14.6％）组成，这与污染基本相符。底栖生物群落与化合物对污染梯度的反应一致，特别是对于砷。线虫和Nemertea这两个类群的密度与As浓度呈极显着的负相关。聚类分析（CA）和非度量多维标度（NMDS）的结果进一步支持了沉积物污染的复合，位点和分类单元特异性变化。最后，评估整合了五个底栖质量要素，包括：1）临时秘书处；2）金属和准金属；3）沉淀物毒性；4）沉积物微生物组；5）底栖的动植物群落，解释了与土地用途，地区或栖息地相关的沉积物污染。底栖动物群落的状况不能用单一成分来解释，它们的联系也不是定量的。综合评估的结果，考虑到多个底栖质量要素，对于解决沉积物的整体质量很有用，并且与渤海和黄海沉积物的化学，物种或地点相关污染相一致。