other taxa that had relatively high BIV's ( > 80%) and consistently accounted for over 5% of individuals 

 during the period. And although Capitella spp., Polydora ligni, and Gemma gemma have consistently 

 ranked among the dominants, they usually were found in low densities relative to other the top three 

 taxa. 



At GN and WP, rhynchocoels, Paraonis fulgens, and H aploscoloplos fragilis were dominant, con- 

 tributing over 10 percent of the total individuals and having BIV's over 80% indicating their consistent 

 abundance over years. In addition to the above taxa, Scolecolepides viridis was a consistent dominant 

 at GN and Slreptosyllis arenae at WP. 



Community Abundance 



Quarterly mean abundance (no. /core) of intertidal communities along with predicted values from 

 multiple regression models are given in Figure 3. From March 1979 to March 1986 infaunal abundance 

 (the exponential of values in Figure 3) ranged from 4 to 95 at GN; 18 to 840 at .IC; and from 2 to 

 143 at WP. Overall, the .IC community included more organisms, than GN and WP which were of 

 similar magnitude. On a seasonal basis, intertidal organisms were generally more abundant during 

 warmer sampling periods (June and September) than during colder ones (March or December). However, 

 no consistent trend was common to all stations. 



Multiple regression models removed 59%, 20% and 60% of the variability in abundance at GN, 

 .IC and WP, respectively. Plots of annual means after adjusting for this natural variation are presented 

 in Figure 4. The analysis of variance, based on adjusted annual abundances revealed that no significant 

 long-term trends in abundance have occurred at any intertidal station between 1980 and 1985. 



Pairwise comparisons, based on t-tests, indicated that the annual mean abundance at .IC^ during 

 1982 was significantly lower than those observed in 1983 and 1985. At GN, the 1984 value was 

 significantly higher than those of 1981 or 1983. At WP, annual density in 1983 was significantly lower 

 than those found 1981 or 1982; 1985 density was also significantly lower than 1982; 



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