Abstract.The dispersion pattern of mciobenthic harpacticoid copepods was measured on a mudflat at different tidal conditions. Samples were collected using a 5 times 5 array of contiguous cores (8 mm ID), and analyzed by spatial autocorrelation (MOHAN'S I statistic). Four species were abundant, and all were judged to be patchy by autocorrelation. The apparent scale of patchincss did not differ with tidal stage. Three species were aggregated at very small spatial scales (0.5 to 1cm2), with patches probably distributed at random within a sampling array. The fourth species was also aggregated at the smallest spatial scale (neighboring cores), but may have been regularly spaced at distances longer than 5 cm. This study shows that processes on the order of several cm2must dictate the patch dynamics of small metazoans.
展开▼
