ABSTRACT
These complex changes in community structure following dredging, and which occur during the recovery process, are difficult to assess by mere inspection of the data for species composition, population density and biomass. Most recent studies on community structure in relation to environmental gradients, therefore, whether these are natural or induced by man, use relatively sophisticated analytical techniques that incorporate the type of species as well as their individual population densities and biomass to assess changes in community structure. The use of these techniques is beyond the scope of this review, but useful accounts for the biologist are given in Kruskal (1977), Hill (1979), Field et al. (1982), Heip et al. (1988), Magurran (1991), Warwick & Clarke (1991), Clarke & Ainsworth (1993), Clarke & Warwick (1994, and references cited therein).
