Influence of sampling scale on apparent distribution of meiofauna on a sandflat

The effect of sampling scale on apparent distribution of meiofauna was demonstrated by simulating the sampling of a “known” distribution with three different sampling schemes. Small-scale sampling gave better reproduction of the original pattern than larger scales, which tended to homogenize patchiness. My results suggest that for intracommunity meiofaunal research, roughly fifty 0.5–1.0 cm² cores is a reasonable first guess “optimum” sampling scheme. The position of the cores should be random but their position relative to each other should be noted so the spatial information may be utilized in analysis.