Effect of the operation of the Shanghai Petroleum Industry Combine, which was started in 1977, on the adjacent soft-bottom intertidal zone has been analyzed, basing on data obtained from six years of ecological surveys(1975-1980) over five transects, A-E(fig.1).Changes in community structure of be-nthic fauna were very obvious. These changes were brought about by the complex effect of water and bottom soil quality and topographic changes. Transect A was related largely to the construction of a dam nearby an...