A preliminary study on teh meiofauna in the intertidal zone in Nanji Islands marine reserve

The intertidal meiofauna in Nanji Islands Marine Reserve was surveyed in October, 2001. In the middle intertidal zone and lower intertidal zone in Dashaao sand beach, the abundance of meiofauna was relatively low, which was 291.9 ind·10cm~(-2) and 516.8 ind·10cm~(-2) respectively. Nematode was the predominant group. The ratio of nematodes to copepods was 3.27 in the middle intertidal zone and 1.06 in the lower intertidal zone, which indicates that the environment here was clean, with no eutrification or organic pollution. On the rocky shore, a total of 14 meiofauna groups was recognized from 4 species of macroalgae with a mean abundance of 35.8ind·g~(-1) dwt algae. Benthic copepod was the most dominant group with a dominance value of 58.2%. The mean abundance of epiphytic macrofauna was 44.9ind·g~(-1) dwt algae.