• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.26-41
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• 2020

In order to culture a life for the physiological and ecological research of the meiofauna, this study aimed to identify the most ideal condition in which the meiofauna can be cultured within a laboratory by setting various environmental conditions. The sediment deposits and seawater were collected from the intertidal zone in Mallipo of the west coast. A aquarium in which the internal environment can be controlled by constantly maintaining the temperature and humidity was fabricated and the culture experiments of the collected meiofauna were conducted together with the sea water and sediment deposits collected. The experiment 1 was conducted after establishing the similar environment as the collecting location. Under the same condition as the experiment 1, the experiment 2 verified a difference between when live foods were supplied and were not. In the experiment 3, the changes in the meiofauna colony were checked according to with or without light and live foods. In the results of culturing experiments, the habitat density and the number of appeared classification groups of the meiofauna colony were relatively higher both in the water tank with supplying the live foods and under the condition of having light in 12-hour cycle than those in the aquarium without live foods and under no light condition. In addition, the habitat density of meiofauna cultured within a laboratory exhibited relatively higher value than that under the natural state.