The relationship between abundances of meiofauna and their suspected microbial food (diatoms and bacteria)

Samples were taken bi-weekly for one year at a sand site and a mud site in the North Inlet Estuary, Georgetown, South Carolina, for meiofauna, their suspected microbial food (bacteria and diatoms), and associated physical factors. Linear regression techniques were used to correlate food abundance and physical factors with the density of meiofaunal taxa. At both sites diatoms positively correlated with meiofauna taxa, but bacteria did not. Physical factors were not correlated with meiofaunal or microbial abundances at the sand site. Whereas, at the mud site meiofauna and diatom abundances were positively correlated with the depth of the redox layer and inversely correlated with temperature. Peaks of meiofaunal abundance did not follow peaks of food abundance. Analysis of copepods at the species level indicated that taxa response was due to the response of the dominant species. Even though some correlations existed, this study suggests that copepod species and meiofauna at the gross taxonomic level do not respond to changes in potential food abundance. Physical factors apparently influence both meiofauna and diatoms in the same fashion. However, bacterial abundance was not positively correlated with any of the factors studied.