Abundancia meiofaunal en sedimentos arenosos de una bahía somera, costa central peruana.

Víctor Aramayo Navarro

Authors

Víctor Aramayo Navarro Instituto del Mar del Perú

Keywords:

Meiofauna, vertical distribution, benthos, Central Peru

Abstract

Although we have some information about the muddy-bottoms meiofauna in Peru, we still do not know the main patterns of this community in local sandy bottoms. A description and subsequent analysis of this surface inhabiting community are presented for Miraflores Bay and the spatially-close area of Carpayo. By using a HAPS corer, replicated, independent samples of sediment were collected. The taxonomic analysis showed 15 taxa, with a high richness at deepest stations. Deepest sites tend to be populated by high numbers of free-living nematodes, and also a good number of polychaete species (both larval and juvenile stages, especially Magelona phyllisae). Copepods of the taxonomic orders Harpacticoid and Poecilostomatoida
were also identified. The total densities (0-5 cm) ranged between 25 ± 18 and 438 ± 234 Ind/10 cm2. Nematode families such as Monhysteridae (167 ± 123 Ind/10 cm2), Chromadoridae (110 ± 95 Ind/10 cm2), and Desmodoridae
(70 ± 34 Ind/10 cm2) were numerically dominant. The cluster analysis shows a clear association of stations dominated by nematodes. Most of the benthic organisms were inhabiting the surface layer of the sediment (0-1
cm), but only the nematodes exhibited a more homogeneous vertical penetration. A relatively similar pattern was observed in molluscs (bivalves and gastropods) inhabiting sub-surface centimeters (4-5 cm). The relevance
of these early advances in the meiofaunal community structure of these habitats and their potential usefulness
to understanding in situ recruitment signs of benthic species is discussed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Aller R C, Aller J Y. 1992. Meiofauna and solute transport in marine muds. Limnology and Oceanography. 37: 1018-1033.

Clifford H T, Stephenson W. 1975. An introduction to numerical classification. London: Academic Express. 229 pp.

Coull B C. 1990. Are members of the meiofauna food for higher trophic levels? Transactions of the American Microscopically Society. 109: 233-246.

Coull B C. 1999. Role of meiofauna in estuarine soft-bottom habitats. Australian Journal of Ecology. 24: 327-343.

Danovaro R, Tselepides A, Otegui A, Della Croce N. 2000. Dynamics of meiofaunal assemblages on the continental shelf and deep-sea sediments of the Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean): relationships with seasonal changes in food supply. Prog. Oceanogr. 46: 367 – 400.

Gerlach S A, Riemann F. 1973. The Bremerhaven checklist of aquatic nematodes, Vol. 1. Veröffentlichungen Institus für Meeresforschung Bremerhaven. Supplement 4: 1-734.

Giere O. 1975. Population structure, food relations and ecological role of marine oligochaetes. With special reference to meiobenthic species. Mar Biol. 31: 139-156.

Giere O. 1993. Meiobenthology. The microscopic fauna in aquatic sediments. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 328 pp.

Giere O. 2009. Meiobenthology. The microscopic motile fauna of aquatic sediments. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 527 pp.

Grémare A, Medernach L, DeBovee F, Amouroux J M, Vetion G, Albert P. 2002. Relationships between sedimentary organics and benthic meiofauna on the continental shelf and the upper slope of the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). Marine Ecology Progress Series. 234: 85-94.

Heip C, PM Herman P M. 1985. The stability of a benthic copepod community. En: Proceedings of the 19th European marine biology symposium. Gibbs, PE (Ed.). Cambridge University Press, Columbia. 255-263.

Heip C, Vincx M, Smol N, Vranken G. 1982. The Systematics and Ecology of free-living marine nematodes. Helminthological Abstracts. Serie B. Plant Nematology. 51(1): 1-28.

Hope W D, Murphy D G. 1972. A Taxonomic Hierarchy and Checklist of the Genera and Higher Taxa of Marine Nematodes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Number 137. Smithsonian Institution Press. 112 pp.

Levin L A, Huggett C L, Wishner K F. 1991. Control of deep-sea benthic community structure by oxygen and organic matter gradients in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. J. Mar. Res. 49: 763-800.

Levin L A, Gutiérrez D, Rathburn A E, Neira C, Sellanes J R, Muños P, Gallardo V, Salamanca M. 2002. Benthic processes on the Peru margin: A transect across the oxygen minimum zone during the 1997-98 El Niño. Progress in Oceanography. 53: 1-27.

Levin L A. 2003. Oxygen minimum zone benthos: adaptation and community response to hypoxia. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review. 41: 1–45.

Lorenzen S. 1994. The Phylogenetic Systematics of Freeliving Nematodes. London: The Ray Society. 383 pp.

MacArthur R H. 1972. Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the distributions of species. New York: Harper & Row. 288 pp.

Maria T F, Morgado A, Smol N. 2009. Chromaspirina guanabarensis sp. n. (Nematoda: Desmodoridae) and a new illustrated dichotomous key to Chromaspirinaspecies. Zootaxa. 2092: 21-36.

Neira C, T Höpner T. 1994. The role of Heteromastus filiformis(Capitellidae, Polychaeta) in organic carbon cycling. Ophelia. 39: 55-73.

Novak R. 1989. Ecology of nematodes in the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. 1. General part and faunistics of the nematode community. Mar Ecol. PSZN. 10: 335–363.

Novak R. 1992. Dynamic aspects of seagrass-nematode community structure. En: Colombo G, Ferrari I, Ceccherelli VU, Rossi R (Eds.) Marine eutrophication and population dynamics, with a special section on the Adriatic Sea. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensborg, Denmark. 277–284 pp.

Ólafsson E. 1995. Meiobenthos in mangrove areas in eastern Africa with emphasis on assemblage structure of free-living nematodes. Hydrobiologia. 312: 42-57.

Platt H M, Warwick R M. 1983. Free-living Marine Nematodes. Part I British Enoplids, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 307 pp.

Platt H M, Warwick R M. 1988. Free-living Marine Nematodes (Part II British Chromadorids) Synopses of the British Fauna (New series). No 38.

Quipúzcoa L, Velazco F, Castañeda H, Marquina R. 1998. Estudios de bentos y sedimentología durante el crucero oceanográfico BIC Humboldt 9706-07. Inf. Prog. Inst. Mar Per. (79): 16-29.

Salzwedel H, Flores L, Chumán de Flores E, Zafra A, Carbajal G. 1988. Macrozoobentos del sublitoral peruano antes, durante y después de El Niño 1982-83. Memorias del Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencias del Mar (COLACMAR), 17-21 Agosto 1987, Lima, Perú (Tomo I). Recursos y Dinámica del Ecosistema de Afloramiento Peruano; Salzwedel H, A Landa (Eds.). Bol. Inst. Mar Per., Vol. Extraordinario. 77-98.

Scherer B. 1985. Annual dynamics of a meiofauna community from the sulfide layer of a North Sea sand flat. Microfauna Marina. 2: 117-161.

Shannon C E, W Weaver W. 1949. The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Todaro M A. 1992. Contribution to the study of the Mediterranean meiofauna: Gastrotricha from the Island of Ponza, Italy. Boll. Zool. 59: 321-333.

Todaro M A, Balsamo M, Tongiorgi P. 1992. Marine gastrotrichs from the Tuscan Archipelago (Tyrrhenian Sea): I. Macrodasyida, with description of three new species. Boll. Zool. 59: 471-485.

Todaro M A, Balsamo M. 1995. Marine gastrotrichs from Sicily (Italy). Biol. Gallo-Hellenica. 22: 291-292.

Zuta S, Guillen O. 1970. Oceanografía de las Aguas Costeras del Perú. Bol Inst Mar Perú- Callao. 2(5): 161-223.