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Testing for nematode–granulometry relationships

  • Diversity of marine meiofauna on the coast of Brazil
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Abstract

The majority of studies have advocated that diversity of marine nematodes increases with increasing sediment grain size, although the opposite trend has also been suggested. The controversy is partially caused by not taking into account the effect of density on patterns of diversity and by analyzing datasets from different environments. The present study investigated nematode assemblages from sediments varying from very fine sand (mean grain size of 0.12 mm) to very coarse sand (1 mm) in shallow sublittoral marine environments. Contrary to previous studies, species richness was constant along the granulometric spectrum, despite significant changes in composition. The dominant genera were separated into five groups according to their optimum distribution and there was little overlap between these groups. Concepts from the niche theory explain to some extent the observed patterns. For instance, some of the coexisting genera were from different feeding types.

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Acknowledgments

This article was idealized and performed during the Workshop: Taxonomy and Diversity of Marine Meiofauna at CEBIMar. The authors thank the participants of the workshop for helping with sampling and sample processing, M. Martinez from Karl Zeiss for providing high quality support with the optical material, S. Brito for processing the sample for granulometry, and two anonymous referees for providing constructive comments. This study was funded by FAPESP projects 2009/14019-0, 2009/11808-3, and 2011/21289-3. This is a publication from the NP-Biomar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Instituto do Mar, Av. AlmZ. Saldanha da Gama 89, 11030-400, Santos, Brasil

    G. Fonseca & F. Gallucci

  2. Universidade de São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha. Rod. Manoel Hyppólito do Rego km 131,5, 11600-000, São Sebastião, Brasil

    G. Fonseca & F. Gallucci

  3. Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Departamento de Ecologia e Recursos Marinhos Av. Pasteur 458, 22290-240, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

    T. F. Maria

  4. Facultad de Ciencias Montevideo, Laboratorio de Oceanografía y Ecología Marina, Montivideo, Uruguay

    N. Kandratavicius

  5. Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Av. Augusto Corrêa, 01, 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brasil

    V. Venekey

  6. Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Instituto Oceanográfico Praça do Oceanográfico 191, 05508-120, São Paulo, SP, Brasil

    P. F. Gheller

Authors
  1. G. Fonseca
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  2. T. F. Maria
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  3. N. Kandratavicius
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  4. V. Venekey
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  5. P. F. Gheller
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  6. F. Gallucci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Fonseca.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Nematode genera identified in each sampling station
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Fonseca, G., Maria, T.F., Kandratavicius, N. et al. Testing for nematode–granulometry relationships. Mar Biodiv 44, 435–443 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-014-0241-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-014-0241-4

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