| Sediment samples were monthly collected at Queule river estuary (ca. 39° S), south-central Chile, from October 1990 to April 1992, and from September 1995 to November 1997 to study temporal variability in population abundances of the macroinfauna inhabiting sandy and muddy-sand intertidal substrates. Sandy sediments had higher percentages of sand particles and lower percentages of mud particles, biogenic aggregates and total organic matter than muddy-sand sediments. The same macroinfaunal species were found at both sites. That macroinfauna was dominated by polychaetes: the spionid Prionospio (Minuspio) patagonica Augener 1923, the capitellid Capitella sp. and the nereid Perinereis gualpensis Jeldes 1963. Other common organisms were the amphipod... |
