• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.11a
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• pp.238-238
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• 2017

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2023

The study was performed in order to understand the association between organic matter content in the sediments and the distribution of macrobenthos in the intertidal zone of the Muan bay. The sediment samples obtained from 21 sampling sites in August 2019 were analyzed for sediment composition and organic matter content (Ignition loss; IL and Total organic carbon; TOC). Further the macro benthos was sorted and enumerated. The sediments of inner area of bay has coarser composition where mouth part of bay, the sediments were predominantly silty. The highest organic matter content (both of IL and TOC) was measured at station 10 located near the Mokpo area while the lowest values was measured at station 20 adjacent to the north side of the bay. The 4 most abundant species accounted for more than 10% of all specimens were Assiminea sp., Musculista senhousia, Cerithideopsilla cingulate and Heteromastus filiformis. The maximum number of species and density were observed at station 10. Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) allow identification of four benthic assemblages based on species abundance. The correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the density with TOC. Based on the analysis; it was found that the distribution of macrobenthos varied with the differences in sediment composition and organic matter content.