Organic carbon content of sediments, whether directly or indirectly assessed, has often been used as an indicator of marine benthic community condition both in site-specific and regional scale condition assessment studies. The conceptual framework underlying use of this indicator was developed based primarily on site-specific studies. A quantitative analysis of literature data on sediment organic matter impacts in marine systems was conducted to determine whether biotic metrics respond to abiotic indicators of sediment organic content, as predicted by conceptual models, at larger spatial scales. The ability to detect predicted decreases in community metrics (abundance, species richness, species diversity index H’, biomass) varied among metrics, with best performance by species richness and H’. There was significant added variation both between and within analytical approaches (loss on ignition, total organic carbon methods), emphasizing the need for careful cross calibration and quality control in studies with multiple laboratory partners. High levels of variability for biotic metrics versus organic carbon metrics appear typical for large scale studies, and organic matter source, site depth, and individual estuarine system differences were important sources of variation. Covariation of organic matter content with percent fine sediments is another known source of variation, but various normalization methods may be inadequate due to inherent sources of variation at estuary level. While likely still useful for point-source studies, multiple major sources of variation appear to limit the usefulness of sediment organic content as a benthic condition indicator at larger spatial scales.

沉积物的有机碳含量，无论是直接评估还是间接评估，都经常被用作特定地点和区域尺度条件评估研究中海洋底栖群落条件的指标。使用该指标的基本概念框架主要是基于特定地点的研究而制定的。对海洋系统中沉积物有机质影响的文献数据进行了定量分析，以确定生物指标是否在更大的空间尺度上对概念模型预测的沉积物有机物含量的非生物指标做出反应。检测群落指标（丰度、物种丰富度、物种多样性指数 H'、生物量）的预测下降的能力因指标而异，物种丰富度和 H' 表现最佳。分析方法（烧失量法、总有机碳法）之间和内部都存在显着的差异，这强调了在与多个实验室合作伙伴的研究中进行仔细交叉校准和质量控制的必要性。生物指标与有机碳指标的高度可变性似乎是大规模研究的典型特征，有机物质来源、场地深度和个体河口系统差异是重要的变异来源。有机质含量与细粒沉积物百分比的协变是另一个已知的变异来源，但由于河口水平的固有变异来源，各种归一化方法可能不够充分。虽然可能对点源研究仍然有用，