The results presented here clearly demonstrate a steady change in animal communities
in the various habitats of the Bay of Rest. The seaward mudflat had the
greatest species richness, both in terms of the total species number (112) and the
mean number of species per station (20.5), the greatest mean animal density (992/
m2) and the second highest biomass (4,056 mg/m2). The total number of species
is partly increased by the greater number of stations made on the mudflat, but
the latter three categories are based on units of equal size. A combination of the
large size and the high biomass per unit area (Table 3) shows that 61.1 % of the
total biomass of marine invertebrates in the Bay of Rest was on the seaward
mudflat. In contrast the landward backflat was poorest in all the biological characteristics
measured and contributed only 1.6% of the standing crop. The two
mangrove zones R. stylosa and A. marina were intermediate between the mudflat
to the seaward and the landward backflat, except for mean biomass which was
slightly higher in A. marina than on the mudflat due to the high biomasses of the
gastropod T. sulcata. Differences between R. stylosa and A. marina stations were