Quantitative estimates of the meiofauna from the deep sea off North Carolina,USA |
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| Authors: | B C Coull R L Ellison J W Fleeger R P Higgins W D Hope W D Hummon R M Rieger W E Sterrer H Thiel J H Tietjen |
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| Institution: | (1) Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology, and Coastal Research, University of South Carolia, Columbia, South Carolina, USA;(2) Department of Biology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA;(3) Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA;(4) Smithsonia Oceanographic Sorting Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, Washington, USA;(5) Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, Washington, USA;(6) Department of Zoology and Microbiology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA;(7) Department of Zoology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;(8) Bermuda Biological Station, St. George's West, Bermuda;(9) Institut für Hydrobiologie und Fischereiwissenschaft, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (FRG);(10) Department of Biology, City College of New York, New York, NY, USA |
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| Abstract: | In 1974 the authors collected, sorted and enumerated meiofauna from 400, 800 and 4000 m off North Carolina, USA. Samples were replicated respectively with 4 boxcores and 21 subsamples, 2 boxcores and 7 subsamples and 2 boxcores and 8 subsamples. Total meiofaunal numbers were highest in fine silt sediment at 800 m (
=891.9 10 cm–2) and lowest in very fine silt at 4000 m (
=73.5 10 cm–2). Fine sand at 400 m yielded a mean of 442.4 10 cm–2. At all depths, most fauna were located in the upper 3 cm of sediment (
depth distribution=2.2 cm), and typically only nematodes and foraminiferans were found below 4 cm. Total community abundances significantly differed with depth; however, there were no differences among replicate boxcores at particular depths. Since most (85.7%) of the variance was associated with subsamples from a boxcore, it appears that meiofauna densities are homomeneous within large areas at particular depths, and that patchiness is a smallscale phenomenon at the level of the 10 cm2 subsampler. Comparisons of sorting efficiencies of live and preserved samples indicated that to accurately enumerate formainiferans, samples must first be fixed and stained, while turbellarians and oligochaetes must be sorted live.Contribution No. 151 from the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research. This research was supported by the Oceanography Section, National Science Foundation, NSF Grant GA-42792, and GC-00005 to Duke University for R.V.  Eastward operations. |
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