Abstract
A comparison of shallow water benthic macrofauna collected with hand-held cores and a suction sampler shoed that the core method provided the best estimate of macrofaunal density and composition. In a bare sand habitat, suction methods collected 72.8% fewer individuals per unit surface area of sediment. The difference was 32.6% in a seagrass (Halodule wrightii) habitat. At each site the number of species collected with the two devices was similar; however, population densities of numerically important species were underestimated with the suction device resulting in effects on community statistics. In addition to high sampling efficiency and statistical advantages associated with the use of the multiple cores, ease of operation and low construction cost make simple core tubes the preferred gear for sampling small macrobenthos in soft sediments, with or without vegetation.
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Data collection was funded by a grant from Getty Oil Company while data analysis was carried out with programs developed through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (R-805288010) to R. J. Livingston. Contribution No. 225 of the Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc.
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Stoner, A.W., Greening, H.S., Ryan, J.D. et al. Comparison of macrobenthos collected with cores and suction sampler in vegetated and unvegetated marine habitas. Estuaries 6, 76–82 (1983). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351809
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351809