Abstract
The spatial scale of local patterns in the fauna of two contrasting shallow water sediment assemblages has been investigated using hierarchical sampling. Replicate samples were taken at separations of 50 cm, 5 m, 50 m and 500 m. No significant differences between samples could be detected on any of these scales in a fine sand assemblage. However, in a heavily bioturbated sandy mud, samples separated by more than 50 m were significantly different from each other. This separation was largely a result of changes in the pattern of dominance among the most abundant species, particularly annelids. In a complimentary set of analyses, animals were regrouped either by higher taxa or by body size. The numerically important annelids and crustaceans showed a pattern of spatial similarity close to the full data set, but that shown by molluscs was clearly distinct. Large bodied animals were also independent of the main pattern while smaller species conformed to it. In the case of the latter, separation of sites at the 50 m scale could be related to patterns of species richness as well as dominance.
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