• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.406-425
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• 2019

To observe the seasonal fluctuation of the meiobenthic fauna community around the coastal area of Jeju island, 20 stations were selected and seasonal surveys were conducted. Three-replicate meiobenthic samples were collected from each station in April, July, and November 2017; February, May, August, and November 2018; and February in 2019, in a total of eight months from 2017 to 2019. The total density of meiobenthos at each station ranged from 733 to 2,505 ind. 10 cm^-2. The month in which the highest habitat density appeared in most stations was April 2017 and the month in which the lowest habitat density was seen was February 2019. Nematodes were the most dominant faunal group among the representative 13 meiofaunal groups at all stations. The subdominant groups were benthic harpacticoid copepods and nauplius. The nematode/copepod (N/C) ratio, reflecting the health indices within the ecosystem, varied from 0.02 to 87.40 over the entire season and the average station values ranged from 2.00 to 16.80. The lowest N/C ratio value was found in April 2017 (0.02) and the highest N/C ratio was found at Station 11 in February 2019, which was 87.40, indicating the highest level of pollution. Seasonal and regional meiobenthos community structure similarity was divided into three groups through group analysis and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis, which showed that the meiobenthos community structure was affected by seasonal variations, rather than by regional differences.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.109-119
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• 2001

Meiobenthic community structure of tidal flats near the Yeonggwang Nuclear Power Plant have studied during summer (June) and fall (October) 1997. Examination of sediment samples collected along the transects showed that there were 18 different types of meiobenthos in the study area. The most abundant meiobenthic animals belonged to Phylum Nematoda in both seasons and all transects. However, sediment samples collected near discharge areas, transects A and B, showed relatively lower abundance than other general coastal areas. Another abundant meiobenthic organism is benthic Harpacticoids which is very sensitive to any environmental changes. Polycheats and Ostracods were next abundant meiobenthos which also showed the difference between the study area and other general coastal areas. Only transect C maintained similar meiobenthic abundance and diversity to other coastal areas. Horizontal distribution for transects A and B showed higher densities in upper and mid tidal flat zones. On the other hand, transect C which is located furtherest from the discharges showed an increasing trend in abundance from upper to lower areas. For size distribution analyses showed that animals which fit into the meshsize of 0.125 mm were abundant, Vertical distribution of meiobenthic animals within the sediments for both sampling seasons showed the highest individual numbers in the surface sediment layers of 0-1 cm depth and showed a decreasing trend as sediment gets deeper. Each class of meiobenthos had different vertical profiles. When comparing survey transects A and B with other similar tidal flat areas, this sites seems to a very unstable environment of tidal flats near the Yeonggwang Nuclear Power Plant.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.209-223
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• 2014

The community structure of benthic meiofauna was investigated from seasonal surveys at seventeen stations off the Saemangeum area, in 2007. Ten meiofaunal taxa were identified. Nematodes were the dominant faunal group in all seasons and harpacticoids were dominant only at a few stations. The mean density of meiofauna was 383 indiv. $10cm^{-2}$, highest in May and November (434 indiv. $10cm^{-2}$), lowest in February (284 indiv. $10cm^{-2}$). Meiofaunal mean biomass was $80.49{\mu}gC{\cdot}10cm^{-2}$, highest in November ($99.54{\mu}gC{\cdot}10cm^{-2}$), lowest in February ($51.56{\mu}gC{\cdot}10cm^{-2}$). Cluster analysis revealed that the study area was composed of three benthic meiofaunal communities. There were significant correlations between major meiofaunal groups and sediment composition and the concentrations of heavy metals. The abundance of harpacticoids are positively correlated with silt (0.559, p < 0.01) and clay (0.340, p < 0.01), and negatively correlated with sand (-0.548, p < 0.01). Harpacticoids also showed positive correlations with heavy metals. The community structure of meiofauna in the study area varied seasonally in response to the change of sediment composition.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.103-125
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• 2022

This study aims to identify the community characteristics of meiofauna inhabiting the Yellow Sea continental shelf. To this end an annual survey was conducted considering the seasons from 2018 to 2020 at 13 stations with a depth of 18~90 m of the Yellow Sea located at latitudes 35, 36 and 37 degrees north latitude. The survey was conducted in three seasons of spring, summer, and autumn at 5 stations in October 2018, 9 stations in April 2019, and 6 stations in August 2020 was used to collect 3 repetitions at each station. The habitat density of meiobenthos in the surveyed area was in the range of 45~1029 inds./10 cm², which was similar to the previous studies conducted in the Yellow Sea. The density of meiobenthos according to the seasons was 800±69 inds./10 cm² in autumn, the highest, and the lowest at 260±48 inds./10 cm² in summer. A total of 19 taxa appeared in meiobenthos, and the average value showed the number of nine taxa. Among the appearing taxa, the most dominant taxon was nematodes, accounting for 80.8% of the total density, followed by benthic copepods (8.8%) and benthic foraminifers (4.7%). As for the size distribution of medium benthic animals, the density of organisms corresponding to the size of 63~125 ㎛ was the highest, and 1~0.5 mm was the lowest. As for the vertical distribution in the sediments of medium benthic animals, the habitat density gradually decreased as the depth increased in the sediment surface layer. As a result of analysis of the N/C ratio, MPI, and ITD index using medium-sized benthic animals to identify the benthic environment, there were differences by season, but no values indicating pollution overall.