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Assemblage, size and abundance bias in a novel sandy shore macro-infaunal sampling technique

journal contribution
posted on 2016-01-01, 00:00 authored by Natalie Sheppard, Mike WestonMike Weston, S Butler, B Baird, P Dann
Sampling sandy shore macro-invertebrate fauna is critical in enhancing our understanding of beach ecology and conservation, and is a common monitoring approach. The traditional, and almost universal, method of sampling involves sieving sand to locate infauna, but here we describe a novel Hydraulic Sampling Device (HSD), a candidate method for future macro-invertebrate sampling, which has the potential to be faster and more effective at sampling invertebrates. We compared the results obtained by these two methods. Macro-invertebrate fauna of six beaches on Phillip Island, southern Victoria, Australia were sampled in the upper and lower beach. On average, the HSD sampled a smaller size range of fauna than the sieving method, perhaps because of longer handling times and escape of larger individuals. The sieving method found more individuals and a higher species richness. The methods we describe do not produce directly comparable results. On balance, the sieving method is simpler, apparently not as prone to ‘escape bias’, and reports higher abundances and richness of beach infauna.

History

Journal

Journal of negative results - ecology & evolutionary biology

Volume

11

Pagination

1 - 9

Publisher

Journal of Negative Results - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Location

Helsinki, Finland

ISSN

1459-4625

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal article

Copyright notice

2016, Journal of Negative Results - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

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