Seasonal shifts of meiofauna community structures on sandy beaches along the Chennai coast, India

Abstract

Meiofauna standing stocks and community structures were studied at five sandy beaches along the Chennai coast of the

Spatial heterogeneity of benthic copepods: a comparative aspect on composition, abundance, and correlation

“…They inhabit a wide diversity of habitats from the littoral zone to great depths, as associates or parasites of several multicellular animals and plants, and also in sea ice (Coull et al 1982;Grainger 1991). The patchiness of meiobenthos has been influenced by availability of food and oxygen and other environmental factors (Hicks and Coull 1983;Mantha et al 2012a) and even by macrofaunal bioturbation (Ólafsson and Moore 1992;Ólafsson 2003). Although sediment granulometry is a major structuring factor of meiofaunal population (Ólafsson 1995;Boucher 1997;Ndaro and Ólafsson 1999;Semprucci et al 2010), benthic primary producers such as micro-and macroalgae and higher plants have great influence on the assemblages of benthic fauna which continue to live an epifaunal transition mode of life (Jayabarathi et al 2012;Anandavelu et al 2013).…”