Sublittoral meiofauna was sampled for the GEEP Workshop along a putative pollution gradient at 6 sites in FrierfjordlLangesundfjord, Norway. Data were subjected to mutivariate statistical analyses which discriminate between sites on their faunlstic attributes, and univariate measures of community stress were determined. Most mulhvariate techniques produced similar results. The copepod component of the meiofauna discriminated between sites better than the nematodes at the species level, but nematodes were more robust to analyses based on data aggregated to higher taxonomic levels. It is concluded that pollution monitoring at the community level using higher taxonomic groupings of meiofauna is viable, and renders such studies much less time-consuming and more cost-effective than more standard procedures. Appropriate taxonomic levels for the 2 major meiofaunal taxa (nematodes and copepods) and for the total meiofauna are discussed. There is a paucity of validated univariate measures of community perturbation available for use with meiofauna. Traditional diversity measures were rather uninformative, but the community at one site was identified as being adversely affected by pollution.

This paper provides morphological descriptions of the nematodes of the Orders Chromadorida, Desmodorida and Desmoscolecida as well as their habitats, geographical distribution, taxonomic details, illustrations and keys to the genera.

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Meiofauna composition, abundance, biomass, distribution and diversity were investigated for 31 stations in summer. The sampling covered the whole Oosterschelde and comparisons between the subtidalintertidal and between the western-central -eastern compartment were made .Meiofauna had a community density ranging between 200 and 17500 ind 10 cm -2, corresponding to a dry weight of 0 .2 and 8 .4 gm-2 . Abundance ranged between 130 and 17 200 ind 10 CM-2 for nematodes and between 10 and 1600 ind 10 cm -2 for copepods . Dry weight biomass of these taxa was between 0 .5-7 .0 gm-2 and 0 .008-0 .3 gm -2 for nematodes and copepods respectively .The meiofauna was strongly dominated by the nematodes (36-99%), who's abundance, biomass and diversity were significantly higher intertidally than subtidally and significantly higher in the eastern part than in the western part . High numbers were positively correlated with the percentage silt and negatively with the median grain size of the sand fraction . The abundance and diversity of the copepods were highest in the subtidal, but their biomass showed an inverse trend being highest on the tidal flats .The taxa diversity of the meiofauna community and species diversity of both the nematodes and the copepods were higher in subtidal stations than on tidal flats . In the subtidal, the meiofauna and copepod diversity decreased from west to east, whereas nematode diversity increased .The vertical profile clearly reflected the sediment characteristics and could be explained by local hydrodynamic conditions . Seasonal variation was pronounced for the different taxa with peak abundance in spring, summer or autumn and minimun abundance in winter .Changes in tidal amplitude and current velocity enhanced by the storm-surge barrier will alter the meiofauna community structure . As a result meiofauna will become more important in terms of density and biomass, mainly due to increasing numbers of nematodes, increasing bioturbation, nutrient mineralisation and sustaining bacterial growth . A general decrease in meiofauna diversity is predicted . The number of copepods is expected to decrease and interstitial species will be replaced by epibenthic species, the latter being more important in terms of biomass and as food for the epibenthic macrofauna and fishes .

Meiofauna composition, abundance, biomass, distribution and diversity were investigated for 31 stations in summer. The sampling covered the whole Oosterschelde and comparisons between the subtidalintertidal and between the western-central -eastern compartment were made .Meiofauna had a community density ranging between 200 and 17500 ind 10 cm -2, corresponding to a dry weight of 0 .2 and 8 .4 gm-2 . Abundance ranged between 130 and 17 200 ind 10 CM-2 for nematodes and between 10 and 1600 ind 10 cm -2 for copepods . Dry weight biomass of these taxa was between 0 .5-7 .0 gm-2 and 0 .008-0 .3 gm -2 for nematodes and copepods respectively .The meiofauna was strongly dominated by the nematodes (36-99%), who's abundance, biomass and diversity were significantly higher intertidally than subtidally and significantly higher in the eastern part than in the western part . High numbers were positively correlated with the percentage silt and negatively with the median grain size of the sand fraction . The abundance and diversity of the copepods were highest in the subtidal, but their biomass showed an inverse trend being highest on the tidal flats .The taxa diversity of the meiofauna community and species diversity of both the nematodes and the copepods were higher in subtidal stations than on tidal flats . In the subtidal, the meiofauna and copepod diversity decreased from west to east, whereas nematode diversity increased .The vertical profile clearly reflected the sediment characteristics and could be explained by local hydrodynamic conditions . Seasonal variation was pronounced for the different taxa with peak abundance in spring, summer or autumn and minimun abundance in winter .Changes in tidal amplitude and current velocity enhanced by the storm-surge barrier will alter the meiofauna community structure . As a result meiofauna will become more important in terms of density and biomass, mainly due to increasing numbers of nematodes, increasing bioturbation, nutrient mineralisation and sustaining bacterial growth . A general decrease in meiofauna diversity is predicted . The number of copepods is expected to decrease and interstitial species will be replaced by epibenthic species, the latter being more important in terms of biomass and as food for the epibenthic macrofauna and fishes .