Meiobenthic community structure in the coastal area of Hallyeohaesang National Park
To assess the characteristics of meiofaunal community fluctuations related to environmental factors, seasonal surveys were conducted in the subtidal zone of Hallyeohaesang National Park. The average depth of the study area was about 20 m, and the average water temperature at the bottom was low in winter (11.33°C) and high in summer (17.95°C). The sedimentary particles mainly comprised silt and clay at most stations. The abundance of meiofauna ranged from 81.7 to 1,296.5 Inds. 10 cm-2, and the average abundance was 589.3 Inds. 10 cm-2. The average abundance of meiofauna in each season was the lowest at 416.5 Inds. 10 cm-2 in winter and the highest at 704.5 Inds. 10 cm-2 in spring. The dominant taxa were nematodes (about 92%) and harpacticoids (about 5%). In the cluster analysis of meiofaunal communities, they were divided into four significant groups. The largest group mainly contained spring and summer samples, and contained stations with a high nematode density of over 500 Inds. 10 cm-2 and harpacticoids below 50 Inds. 10 cm-2 with a high composition ratio of nematodes. In the cluster analysis, no regional division was found between the stations, and it was thought to be divided by the seasons with high abundance according to seasonal variation and the composition ratio of nematodes and harpacticoids. In the Spearman rank correlation analysis, the density of total meiofauna and the most dominant taxa, nematodes, was not significantly related to environmental factors. However, the density of harpacticoids had a significant positive correlation with water depth and a negative correlation with sediment particle size.