Stoner and U/aite Habitat associations of Strombus gigas within seagrass meadows 



577 



CHILDREN'S BAY CAY 



50 

 45 

 40 

 ib 

 20 

 25 

 20 

 15 

 10 

 5 

 



50 

 45 

 40 

 35 

 30 

 25 

 20 

 15 

 10 

 5 

 



cn Numbers FEBRUARY 



^3 Biomass 



1 



ih 



2 3 4 



STATIONS 



* 



\ 



CO 



1100 ^ 



1000 r^ 



m 



900 ^ 



aoo -^ 



700 2. 

 600 s 



500 -^ 



400 



300 



200 



100 







Figure I 



Number of conch and conch biomass sampled within a 2.5-m radius 

 circle at Children's Bay Cay, July 1988 and February 1989, at each 

 station. Values are means + SD. 



to those in February at stations 1, 2, and 3. Stations 

 4 and 5 had densities almost twice as high in July as 

 those in February, At SR, the general pattern was an 

 increase in conch density from station 1-5 (except a 

 small decrease in July at station 4) (Fig, 2). In July, 

 the density then decreased sharply at stations 6 and 

 7. In February, the density increased further at sta- 

 tion 6 and then decreased at station 7. More pronounc- 

 ed than at CBC, the densities at SR in February at sta- 

 tions 3, 4, and 5 were lower than the July densities. 



After log transformation of the data to improve 

 heterogeneity in the variance, a multi-way ANOVA 

 was used to test for differences and interactions in 

 conch density between sites, dates, transects, and sta- 

 tions (Table 4). Transects were examined as blocks, and 

 hence there were no interaction terms with transect. 

 Since SR had 7 stations as opposed to 5 at CBC, sta- 

 tions 6 and 7 at SR were not used in this analysis where 

 CBC and SR were compared. 



There were no significant interaction terms or block 

 (transect) effects in the ANOVA (p>0.05); therefore, 

 the effects of date, site, and station may be interpreted 

 directly. It is clear from Figures 1 and 2 that conch 

 densities were higher in July than in February at both 

 CBC and SR at most stations. Significant site effects 

 appear to be related to the low numbers of conch at 

 SR, particularly in February and at station 1-3. Sta- 

 tion effects occurred because of the increase in conch 



