nonquantitative. To address this issue, in 1992, nine 1 m^ areas were thoroughly hand- 

 raked at each site. No pit (shovel) samples were taken at this time. This method produced 

 reliable results but a considerable amount of time was required to adequately rake each 

 sample plot and a question arose as to the efficacy of the method to quantify medium and 

 small sized animals. Accordingly, in 1998, the area raked was reduced to 0.5 m^ (a 

 maximum of eight areas were raked) and pit samples were taken from the comer of each of 

 raked plot and sieved over a 5 mm screen to insure collection of medium-sized animals. 

 Sampling was limited to the Sheep Island sites. 



Table 2-1. Sheep Island Pit and Rake Samples* 



Year 



No. Pit 

 Samples 



Pit 

 Area 



No. Rake 

 Samples 



Rake 

 Area 



Total 

 Area 



1990 



30 



0.04 m' 



— 



— 



1.2 m' 



1991 



30 



0.04 m' 



? 



7 



+ 1.2 m' 



1992 



— 



— 



9 



1.0 m' 



9.0 m' 



1998 



9 



0.125 m' 



9 



0.475 m' 



4.5 m' 





Table 1-. 



I. Beals Islai 



id Pit and R, 



ike Samples 



5* 



Year 



No. Pit 

 Samples 



Pit 

 Area 



No. Rake 

 Samples 



Rake 

 Area 



Total 

 Area 



1991 



30 



0.04 m' 



? 



? 



+ 1.2 m' 



1992 



— 



— 



9 



1.0 m' 



9.0 m' 



* Represents type and number of samples taken at each sample site. 

 ? Number of samples not recorded 



Infauna were collected by forcing a 7.5 cm diameter coring tube into the sediment 

 to a depth of 10 cm. During the early part of the study a total of 30 cores were taken at 

 each site (Tables 2-3 and 2-4), however, the sample size was later reduced to 15. Equal 

 numbers of cores were taken at each of three different distances from the shoreline and 

 each core was taken at least 2 m away from any previous sample. Samples were washed 

 over a 0.5 mm mesh screen in the field, fixed in 4% formalin, and transported to the 

 laboratory. A total of 9 sediment grain size samples were collected at each site with a 5 cm 

 diameter coring mbe to a sediment depth of 10 cm. Samples were placed in a plastic bag 

 and transported to the laboratory for analysis. 



Ecological Monitoring of a Constructed Imertidal Flat at J one sport, Maine 



