Animal : sediment relationships in coastal deposits of the eastern EnglishChannel

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between sed iment composition and biological community structure in mixed sands and gra vel deposits of the eastern English Channel. Although some species are clea rly associated with particular sediment types, the results confirm the lack of correspondence between community composition of the benthos and particl e size distribution in unconsolidated sand and gravel deposits. The results also suggest that sample-to-sample variability commonly recorded in the sp ecies composition of macrofauna may reflect significant under-sampling by c onventional grab sampling techniques. The implications of this for environm ental monitoring and impact studies is discussed.