Abundance and biomass of meiobenthos in central and northern Taiwan Strait during spring

The meiobenthos abundance and biomass in the central and northern Taiwan Strait was evaluated based on samples collected during April,2009.The results revealed that the meiobenthos average abundance and biomass was 21.11±16.29 ind/cm2 and 20.97±4.96 g/cm2(dry weight),respectively.A total of 13 meiobenthos groups were indentified.Nematodes were present in the greatest abundance(19.23±15.49 ind/cm2),accounting for 91.10% of the total meiobenthos abundance.This was followed by benthic copepods(2.77%) and polychaetes(2.64%).Analysis of the vertical distribution of meiobenthos indicated that 83.18% of the meiobenthos were distributed in the top 5 cm of sediment.Approximately 57.66% of nematodes and 62.96% of copepods were distributed in the top 2 cm of sediment.Comparison of the abundance,biomass and production of meiobenthos with macrobenthos indicated that the meiobenthos biomass is lower,but because of the rapid growth and much shorter life cycles of the meiobenthos,its abundance was about 445 times higher than that of macrobenthos.Additionally,the average production of meiobenthos is about 1.39 times greater that of macrobenthos.However,more information is needed to identify the importance of these small animals in the energy flow of the benthic ecosystem in the Taiwan Strait.