Anthropogenic disturbance and spatial heterogeneity of macrobenthic invertebrate assemblages in coastal lagoons: the study case of Pialassa Baiona (northern Adriatic Sea)

Table 4 Analyses of variance on environmental variables in relation to habitats (2 levels, fixed), areas (4 levels, nested in habitat)

	Source of variation	Habitat (1 df)			Area (Habitat) (6 df)			Residual (32 df)
	Transf.	MS	F	P	MS	F	P	MS
Depth	None	18.5913	15.30	0.0079	1.2152	2.28	0.0603	0.5326
Sand	None	361.8022	0.95	0.3678	381.5869	1.00	0.4410	380.7758
LOI	None	0.9303	0.02	0.8880	43.1162	2.57	0.0381	16.7835
RDP	Ln (X + 1)	17.1400	5.93	0.0508	2.8887	5.93	0.0003	0.4874
Spw ^a	Sqrt (X + 1)	0.2459	2.37	0.1745	0.1037	2.37	0.0526	0.0438
Ts	None	0.7562	0.02	0.8973	41.7479	64.54	0.0001	0.6469
Hg	Sqrt (X)	8.1432	1.03	0.3483	7.8687	6.96	0.0001	1.1300
Dc ^a	Ln (X)	2.8357	3.75	0.1009	0.7558	3.03	0.0185	0.2495
Ds	X^0.6	1909.0580	0.18	0.6854	10549.6195	29.05	0.0001	363.2033
					Area			Residual
					(3 df)			(16 df)
Fm	None				0.0110	3.13	0.055	0.0035

LOI organic carbon as loss of weight on ignition, RPD apparent redox potential discontinuity, Spw pore water, Ts water surface temperature, Hg total mercury, Dc distance from the confluence point, Ds distance from the main sewage input, Fm mean water flow speed
When variances were slightly heterogeneous (Cochran’s C test: 0.01 < P < 0.05) even after transformation, the significant level was reduced to P < 0.01
^aCochran’s C test: P < 0.05

ISSN: 1438-3888