INTERTIDAL ZONE OF SVALBARD .2. MEIOBENTHOS DENSITY AND OCCURRENCE

The meiobenthos was sampled at 119 localities along 1,500 km of Svalba rd shores in the summers 1988-1993. The principal taxa were determined from 5-cm-long sediment cores collected during low tide on soft sedim ent shores. The density ranged from 0 to > 10,000 ind/10 cm2. Nematoda was the most common and abundant taxon. Nematoda and Turbellaria, alo ng with Oligochaeta and Harpacticoida, were typical and the most frequ ent set of taxa. The occurrence of meiofaunal taxa was weakly correlat ed with geographical area; the local habitat characteristics were deci sive. The most abundant meiobenthos, with mean abundance > 900 ind/10 cm2 and the biomass about 0.34 g dry wt per 1 m2, was found on the wes tern coast of South Spitsbergen.