Spatial Range of Meiobenthic Faunal Density in Intertidal Zone of Port Dickson, Malaysia

The study was carried out to determine the spatial range and the composition of the meiobenthic community in intertidal zone along Port Dickson coast, facing the Straits of Malacca. Three beaches were chosen for the study areas, which were Saujana Beach (St1) (02o29.803’ N, 101o50.213’ E), Teluk Pelanduk (St2) (02o25.050’ N, 101o53.631’ E), and Teluk Kemang (St3) (02o27.744’ N, 101o51.072’ E). A PVC hand-corer with 4 cm inner diameter was used to collect the sediment samples during low tide. The sediment samples were collected within three quadrates (Q1, Q2, and Q3) that were placed along 12 metre transect lines starting at the upper-tide level. Six meiobenthic taxa found within three beaches at Port Dickson, were Nematoda, Harpacticoida Copepod, Polychaeta, Tanaidacea, Ostracoda, and Cumacea. The highest mean total density of meiobenthos was found in St3 (36.7 to 57.39 ind.10cm-2) followed by St1 (35.54 to 46.46 ind.10cm-2) and the lowest was in St2 (8.27 to 44.45 ind.10cm-2). Nematodes were the most dominant in St1 and St3 with a mean density ranging from 6.47 to 38.83 ind.10cm-2 and 21.43 to 36.28 ind.10cm-2 respectively. In St2, harpacticoid copepods were the most dominant group with the mean density ranging from 5.19 to 25.03 ind.10cm-2. Harpacticoid copepods showed relatively low density with only 0.21 to 2.86 ind.10cm-2 (5%) and 2.5 to 8.7 ind.10cm-2 in St1 and St3. Salinity was found to be correlated significantly with the benthic meiofaunal distribution (Pearson correlation r = 0.899, n = 9, P<0.05). Analysis of similarity demonstrated a significant difference (ANOSIM, R: -0.169, P: 0.85) in the communities of meiobenthos among the three sampling stations.