Relationship between seagrass standing crop and the spatial distribution and abundance of the natantian fauna at Green Island, Northern Queensland

Abstract

The natantian fauna of the seagrass bed at Green Island (16°46'S,145°58'E) was sampled monthly at night by using a small beam trawl along three transects. Most of the catch consisted of members of the caridean families Processidae, Palaemonidae and Hippolytidae (in order of numerical abundance). The remainder consisted of members of the penaeidean families Sergestidae and Penaeidae. Seagrass standing crop and a living-space index correlated significantly with the abundances of carids but not those of penaeids. The most appropriate regression models explaining the variation in processid and palaemonid densities included only the living-space index and explained between 25 and 38% of the variance. The most appropriate model for the abundance of the hippolytid family was a combination of living-space index and standing crop, which explained 21% of the variance.