less than 10% of the total fauna (Grassle and Morse-Porteous 

 1987). In disturbed environments the most common species 

 contributes significantly more than 10% of the individuals. 

 Examples are the high current regime at the HEBBLE site (Thistle 

 et al. 1985) where the most common species is 50-64% of the 

 fauna, the mounds produced by burrowing animals that have a 

 macrofauna consisting of 67% of a single species (Smith et al. 

 1986), and decomposing Sargassum on the northeastern U.S. 

 continental rise where the most common species is 33% of the 

 fauna. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This work was supported by the NOAA Beebe Project and NSF 

 grants OCE-8702836 and OCE-8311201. 



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