An investigation into the processes responsible for the generation of the spatial pattern of the spionid polychaete pygospio elegans claparede

The spionid polychaete Pygospio elegans Claparede (1863) is a small, tube-building opportunist. On the intertidal sandflat Drum Sands, Firth of Forth, Scotland, this species is numerically dominant and forms areas of increased density or 'patches'. Grid surveys, together with mapping and spatial autocorrelation analysis, revealed that these patches were areas of statistically significant higher numbers of P. elegans compared with surrounding areas where this species was present in very low numbers. These patches, 1-1.5m2, could be seen as areas of smooth, raised sediment within an otherwise wave-rippled sandflat. The majority of the other macrobenthic invertebrate species also exhibited small- or meso-scale…