Abstract:

The abundance and biomass of meiofauna were quantitatively studied at a grid of 28 stations during the cruise of investigation in the Southern Yellow Sea, China in January 2004. The main results are as follows: A total of 20 groups of meiofauna in the Southern Yellow Sea were identified, they were Nematoda, Copepoda, Polychaeta, Kinorhyncha, Bivalvia, Ostracoda et al.. The mean abundance and biomass of meiofauna are (1186.12 ±486.07) ind/10cm2 and (1120.72 ±487.21) μg/10cm2, respectively. Free living marine nematodes are the most dominant group, accounting for 89.702% of the abundance of meiofauna, with benthic harpacticoid copepods in the second, accounting for 4.193%. In terms of horizontal distribution, stations near the coast have higher abundance and biomss of meiofauna. In terms of vertical distribution, 74.33% of total meibenthos is found in the surface sediment 0-2cm, 22.31% in 2-5cm and 3.36% in 5-8cm sediment. Correlation analyses between abundance and biomass of meiofauna and environmental factors show that Chl-a is the key factor that affects the distribution of meiofauna.