Effective sampling of estuarine fauna by a passive net in theWest Sea of Korea occurring strong tide

Abstract

To obtain the effective sampling estuarine fauna by a passive net in the West Sea of Korea occurring strong tide , catch were collected by bag nets with various sampling trials off Ganghwa Island in November 2009. We compared the difference of community structures (on spring tide vs . neap tide , total sample vs . sub- sample and 4 nets vs . 1 net ) with each species composition as a sampling unit by the Pearson chi-square test . Number of individual at the spring tide was more abundant than that at the neap tide (p<0.0001) although number of species at the spring tide was not significantly different with that at the neap tide (p〓0.174). Both number of species (p〓0.138) and number of individual (p〓0.096) were not significantly different between total sample and random subsample . Number of species was not significantly different between the subsample by 1 net and the subsample by 4 nets (p〓0.515), but number of individual was a little different on both samples (p〓0.024). In conclusion , we suggest the subsample by 1 net at spring tide as the effective sampling estuarine fauna by a passive net in the West Sea occurring strong tide .