Introduction to Meiofauna
Bermuda Project Materials & Methods Observations & Results Discussion
Nahant,Gloucester Project Materials & Methods Observations & Results Discussion
Meiofauna Movies
Ecology Of Alantic Shores Class Homepage
References(Works Cited)
| Discussion: (Refer to Charts and Tables on the Observations and Methods Page)
Chart 2 of Whalebone Bay showed a particularly noticeable
abundance of polychetes in comparison to Chart1 of Tobacco. After looking at the
meiofauna from each of the Bays through a microscope it was observed that the
hypothesis based on fish activity at whalebone bay appeared to be correct.
There was a greater amount of meiofauna at Whalebone bay rather than Tobacco
bay. The species of meiofauna
found that had the greatest difference in their means were Harpacticoid
Copepods, Flatworms, a nd Polychetes.
Tobacco Bay had a greater amount of
Harpacticoid Copepods in comparison to Whaleone Bay (Chart 1 vs. Chart 2). This proves the idea that there
is a difference between the two bays. Chart 3 looks at the difference between the means of species at each of the bays and shows a possible difference
in abundance in Harpacticoid Copepods, Flatworms, and Polychetes.
To further test
this data a T-test and F-test was done on the data for
each of the species to look at the vairance between the bays. This was
done to see if the hypothesis, Whalebone bay having more species than
Tobacco Bay was correct. T-test for paired two sample means where
performed to determine if the means between b ays where different. If the means
where different the p-value was looked at to see if it was greater than .05. If
the P value was greater than .05 it can be concluded that there are equal
variances between the two. In order to further test the variances an F-Test Two
Sample for Variances was done to each of the species in the bays to determine
if the variances where equal or unequal. If, the P value was greater than .05
then it could be concluded that the variances where equal, and if the P value was
less than .05 it could be concluded that the variances where unequal. T o confirm
equal or unequal variances T-test Two Sample Assuming Equal Variances, or
T-Test Two Sample Assuming Unequal Variances where performed.
Table 1 shows the test and the results of the test. The
table points out that there was no variance in numbers between Nematodes,
Harpacticoid Copepods, and Ostracoda according to their P values. Nematodes
proved to have a P Value of .63839263, Harpacticoid Copepods had a P value of
.196709468, and Ostacoda with a P value of .789750388. The two species of
meiofauna showing a variance between the beaches where the Polychetes, and
Flatworms. Polychetes had the most significant difference in the distribution
between the two bays with a P value of 3.46222E-05. The flatworms where
borderline to having variance because their P value was .051379414. The
variance of the flatworms was too close to the border to consider them as either
having a distribution or not having a distribution. Therefore the only species
that truly shows distribution are the Polychetes. Polychetes prove to be of
greater distribution at Whalebone rather than Tobacco.
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