Does taxonomic richness vary with distance from the shoreline?
Given variation in environmental parameters (e.g., density of burrows, temperature) along the primary transect, we asked whether taxonomic richness (the total number of different kinds of organisms) varied with distance from the shoreline and decreasing tidal height. In Fig. 1 we compare the taxonomic richness of core samples to distance in meters from the shoreline. What is readily apparent is that while there is a weak positive relationship (such that richness appears to increase with increasing distance/decreasing tidal height), richness exhibits marked variability from sample to sample along the transect.
