Standing stock and community structure of meiobenthos on the benthic habitats of west and south coast of Korea

초록

Quantitative information on meiobenthic abundance, biomass, composition and community structure was obtained from six coastal habitats (at sand dune, beach, salt marsh, tidal flat, seagrass bed and subtidal area) in the West and South coast of Korea. A total of 24 meiofaunal taxa were identified in coastal habitats. The number of meiobenthic taxa were 3.1±0.4 in the sand dune sites, 4.8±1.3 in the beach sites, 6.2±0.6 in the salt marsh area, 7.0±0.5 in the tidal flat, 7.4±0.8 in the subtidal area and 9.7±3.9 in the seagrass bed sites. Abundance of meiobenthos were 105±20 ind./10㎠ in the sand dune sites, 307±178 ind./10㎠ in the beach sites, 946±96 ind./10㎠ in the subtidal area, 970±343 ind./10㎠ in the tidal flat, 2353±961 ind./10㎠ in the seagrass bed sites and maximum density with 5227±1831 ind./10㎠ in the salt marsh area. Biomass of meiobenthos were 24±8 ㎍/10㎠ in the sand dune sites, 128±90 ㎍/10㎠ in the beach sites, 456±46 ㎍/10㎠ in the subtidal area, 354±125 ㎍/10㎠ in the tidal flat, 904±203 ㎍/10㎠ in the salt marsh area and maximum density with 1643±671 ㎍/10㎠ in the seagrass bed sites. The dominant meiobenthic taxa was nematodes, which accounted for 77–88% of the total meiofauna at all of the coastal habitats sites. The second dominant taxa was benthic foraminiferans with 9~10% in the sites of salt marsh and tidal flat, benthic harpacticoids with 7% in the sites of seagrass bed and subtidal area, insects with 15% in the sites of sand dune and halacaroideans with 5% in the sites of beach.