The depth range over each transect did change from collection to 

 collection. This reflects the dynamic and unstable nature of the beach 

 and nearshore. The depth relationship between the three transects did not 

 remain the same. In November transect I was deepest, in January it was 

 transect II, in April transect III, and in July transect II (Table 3). 



The total carbonate content of the sediment (Table 4) showed no pattern 

 through time with large variation at a given site. However, there were 

 differences along the transects (arc sine transformation, analysis of 

 variance, ANOV, a = 0.004) with collecting sites nearest the swash zone 

 having the highest carbonates (3.3 to 30.4 meters), except transect I, 

 where the site at 3.3 meters had consistently low carbonate. There were 

 no differences between transects (a = 0.11). 



The total organic content of the sediment was uniformly low at all sites 

 through time (Table 5) . The range of total organics for the entire study was 

 only 0.05 to 1.29 percent. This range, is small and close to the analytical 

 precision of the incineration method. 



Mean grain size, sorting skewness, and kurtosis statistics indicate that 

 the granulometry of the sediments was variable through time for any given site 

 and transect (Tables 6 to 9) . In general, there was a tendency for the sites 

 30.4 meters from the swash zone and farther to have finer sediments, poorer 

 sorting, less skewness, and higher kurtosis. 



b. Macrobenthos . A total of 22 taxa were identified from all ocean 

 samples (Table 10) . One of which was a small meiofaunal nemerteanlike worm 

 that was excluded from any analysis because of its size and overwhelming 

 dominance. The 0.5-millimeter sieve, used in this study, did not adequately 

 quantify this worm's presence. 



The haustorid amphipods presented an analysis problem. Matta (1977) 

 identified Parahaustorius longimerus as the common haustorid. In the present 

 study, there are three morphologically very similar haustorids common in the 

 collections. They are P. longimerus, Haustorius canadensis, and Haustorius 

 sp. (long rostrate form); therefore, to avoid inconsistencies between Matta 

 (1977) and the present study, all Parahaustorius and Haustorius are grouped 

 in the category of haustorids. Other haustorid species [Amphiporeia 

 virginiana and Bathyporeia quoddyensis) will be maintained individually, 

 since it is unlikely that they could be confused with other species. 



In November a total of 16 species occurred, while in January there were 

 8, 9 in April, and 13 in July. Many of these species had single site 

 occurrences for a season. If they were eliminated, the number of species 

 occurring would be reduced to 10, 5, 8, and 10, respectively. Crustaceans 

 were the dominant taxa, followed by polychaetes, and mollusks (Table 10). 

 The distribution of the six dominant taxa is summarized in Table 11. 



Community structure statistics of occurrence and diversity (Table 12) 

 indicate a strong seasonal influence. The lowest values were in winter 

 (January 1981) with many sites sampled that did not have any fauna. The 

 highest abundance and diversity, overall, occurred in the fall (November 

 1980) followed by summer (July 1981). Sites 30.4 meters and farther from 

 the beach (sites 5, 6, and 7) had the highest statistics throughout the study. 



16 



