Improving benthic monitoring by combining trawl and grab surveys

► Environmental monitoring involves a technique that samples the infauna by grab. ► Epifauna, often missed by grab sampling, are likely to have different ecological functions. ► We compare taxonomic and functional components sampled by grabs and epibenthic trawls. ► Faunal communities and functional components differs widely between techniques. ► We suggest benthic monitoring combining both techniques.