Spatial and temporal variation in the sediment properties of an intertidal mangrove forest: implications for sampling

Whilst both time of day and time within the tidal cycle were found to occasionally have a significant effect upon the measured properties, most of the variation occurred among sites and between replicate days of each set of conditions. The minimal influence of time of day and time within the tidal cycle show that sampling effort should be preferentially placed into replicating days of sampling and sites because these are the scales with the greatest variation. Differences in the patterns found also depended on whether the data were expressed as content or concentration, the consequences of which are briefly described.