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Bibliographies | Anthropogenic Factors
Other anthropogenic factors than over- exploitation were documented. Two examples are the impact of Nutrients enrichments and the increased concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
Nutrients enrichment which can be seen as good for the environment may be a bit dangerous. From Ambariyanto (1997), enrichment is increasing the photosynthesis in small giant clams. The result is that zooxanthellae are smaller because they divide themselves more and thus they have less storage for being resilient to unexpected events. Thus, human activities such as land use or agriculture which increased the erosion, and the nutrients discharge of rivers, may have a negative impact on clams.
On the other hand, a study by Smith (1984) is showing how clams can be used as bio-indicators of the concentrations of PAH in ecosystems because they are highly susceptible to those effects. Indeed, small giant clams are filtrating huge amount of sea-water and are able to fix PAH. In addition, they are present and abundant trough the whole Indo-Pacific region. Thus they may constitute a good frame for assessing the impact and the concentrations levels of PAH in reefs ecosystems. |
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