Structural analysis of the essential environmental factors associated with the marine meiofauna

Abstract

Abstract A biogeochemical study was carried out from 2006 to 2007 in Bohai Bay, northern China, to investigate meiofauna and a number of environmental factors. A total of 18 environmental factors were selected to study their interrelations using Interpretive Structural Analysis. The results showed that these environmental factors could be divided into five levels according to their degree of impact; the results also showed clear links among these factors. The six factors designated as Level 1 included both biological and chemical factors. The other factors had indirect effects on meiofauna and affect these six factors in different ways. There was single factor, sediment grain size, in the fifth level. The structural analysis of the essential factors gave us more information than simple correlation analysis did. Both the water and sediment factors influenced the benthos community. The result is helpful in understanding the complex relationships between environmental factors, and could be used to grasp the main causes and their environmental linkages with further studies; it would be a good basis for integrative environmental management.