Abstract
The objective of this study is to obtain the fundamental knowledge for construction and management of tidal flats. An artificially constructed tidal flat was compared with a natural one in terms of physico-chemical and biological structures and biodegradability of organic carbon in soil. The results obtained were as follows :1) Contents of silt and organic carbon in natural tidal flat were higher than those in artificially constructed one. Natural tidal flat was under aerobic condition only from surface to 2cm in depth, while under anaerobic condition below 2cm in depth. On the other hand, artificially constructed tidal flat was under aerobic condition in all the depths.2) Based on water table variation during low and high tides, thickness of water-penetrable layer from surface in natural and artificially constructed tidal flat was estimated to be 2 and 9cm, respectively. This suggests that artificially constructed tidal flat had a wide water-penetrable zone compared to natural one.3) Number of bacteria in soil surface (0 to 2cm in depth) in natural tidal flat was seven times higher than that in artificially consturcted one. Little vertical variation in number of bacteria was observed in both tidal flats.4) Biomass of macrobenthos in natural tidal flat was 1.4 times higher than that in artificially constructed one. Different dominant specied were observed ; Polychaeta in natural tidal flat and Bivalve, Mollusca in artificially consturcted one.5) Bacterial activity in natural tidal flat was higher in surface layer (0 to 2cm in depth) and significantly decreased with an incerasc in soil depth. On the other hand, a slight vertical decrease in bacterial activity was observed in artificially constructed tidal flat. Finally, compared with each tidal flat, bacterial activity in surface layer (0 to 2cm in depth) was high in natural tidal flat. On the contrary, in layer deeper than 2cm, artificially constructed tidal flat showed high bacterial activity.
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