An improved quantitative method for estimating intertidal meiofaunal standing stock on an exposed rocky shore

Abstract

A method for sampling the meiofauna of rocky shores on a quantitative per unit area basis is proposed, making such data comparable with those for macrofauna and sediment meiofauna. To date, densities of rocky-shore meiofauna have been estimated by counting algal epifauna and extrapolating to a per unit area figure from estimates of percentage algal cover. Such estimates fail to consider the meiofauna associated with the rock surface beneath the algae or those colonizing surfaces devoid of macro-algae. The resulting underestimate of meiofaunal standing stock is quantified at two tidal levels on an exposed rocky shore on the west coast of False Bay, South Africa. © 1988 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.