The first quantitative deep‐benthic macrofaunal survey of a New Zealand fjord sampled the macrofaunal communities of 12 deep basins that are spatially subdivided along the two main axes of the Doubtful Sound complex. Within basin communities, there was high between‐sample variability of both abundance and family level alpha diversity. Despite this high variability, basin communities could be separated into high (entrance basin...

Armandia maculata and Aglaophamus macroura (Polychaeta) and Zethalia zelandica (Gastropoda) are abundant and conspicuous members of sandy sediment macrofaunal assemblages near dredge spoil disposal areas in southeast New Zealand. Regressions derived from data obtained by image analysis of preserved A . macroura specimens revealed that several dorsal width and area parameters of anterior chaetigers were related to total length...

Most seagrass community food‐web studies using stable isotopes have been carried out in subtidal habitats during one sampling event. We used C, N, and S stable isotopes to characterise the diet of the dominant macroinvertebrates found in intertidal Zostera capricorni and sandflat communities of southern New Zealand in late summer and winter. The range of ä 13 C and ä 34 S values for Z. capricorni was wide (>5‰), which highligh...

The influence of a small intertidal seagrass, Zostera novaz.elandica (Setchell), on tidal current velocities and sediment texture was studied at Harwood, Otago Harbour, New Zealand. Tidal current velocities were substantially reduced inside the Z. novazelandica patch compared to velocities above the patch (3.7 times greater) and outside it (2.5 times greater), causing a low‐flow environment among the 12‐cm‐tall seagrass. Curre...

Sediment macrobenthos of the Upper Otago Harbour, south‐eastern New Zealand, was surveyed in 1993. Replicate samples (0.1 m 2 sieved on 1 ‐mm mesh) were taken using a diver‐operated suction sampler from 15 stations, including some suspected to be contaminated. Multivariate analysis of abundance data was used to examine patterns of benthic community structure and their relationship to environmental variables: sediment grain siz...