| Summary: | The exposed sandy beach of Ladeira (Corrubedo Bay, NW Spain) was sampledduring seven years (2003-2009) after the <i>Prestige</i> oil spill(winter 2002-03), todetermine interannual variations in the macroinfaunal community in two ways:(i) through ecological indices (species richness and abundances, Shannon'sdiversityand Pielou's evenness) and (ii) through the density of the most representativespecies. A clear zonation pattern was found, consisting of two zones:(i) the supralittoral, occupied by talitrid amphipods, isopods and insects,and(ii) the intertidal, where marine crustaceans and polychaetes prevailed. Theamphipods <i>Talitrus saltator</i> and <i>Talorchestia deshayesii</i>dominated from the driftline upwards, and isopods (<i>Eurydice</i> spp.), polychaetes (<i>Scolelepis</i>spp.) andthe amphipod <i>Pontocrates arenarius</i> dominated the intertidal. Univariateindices remained constant throughout the study period in the supralittoral,but they varied widely in the intertidal zone. Multivariate analysis showedthat the <i>Prestige</i> oil spill scarcely affected the macroinfaunalcommunity structure during the study period (2003-2009) and its effect waslimited just to the first campaign (2003), six months after the <i>Prestige</i>accident.
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