Biomass and production of freshwater meiofauna: a review and a new allometric model

Schmid‐Araya, J. M.; Schmid, Peter; Majdi, Nabil; Traunspurger, Walter

doi:10.1007/s10750-020-04261-7

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…Investigations of different European streams have shown that meiofauna can account for 58-82% of the entire invertebrate diversity (Robertson et al 2000) and for up to 51% of total invertebrate production in sediment of an acidic, oligotrophic stream (Stead et al 2005). Thus, due to their short lifespan, rapid reproduction and numerical dominance, meiofauna plays important roles in aquatic environments and contribute significantly to the secondary production of benthic metazoans (Bergtold and Traunspurger 2005;Stead et al 2003;Reiss andSchmid-Araya 2008, 2010;Majdi et al 2017;Schmid-Araya et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

2020

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Meiofaunal abundance, biomass and secondary production were investigated over 13 months in an unpolluted first-order stream. Four microhabitats were considered: sediment and the biofilms on dead wood, macrophytes and leaf litter. The relative contribution of the microhabitats to secondary production and the influence of environmental factors on meiofaunal density distribution were estimated. We expected (1) meiofaunal abundance and biomass to exhibit seasonal patterns, with more pronounced seasonal fluctuations on macrophytes and leaf litter than in the other microhabitats, (2) annual secondary production to be highest in sediment; however, the relative contribution of the microhabitats to monthly secondary production would change during the year, and (3) a bottom-up driven influence on meiofaunal density distribution in the microhabitats. Meiofaunal annual mean abundance, biomass and secondary production were 7–14 times higher in sediment and on dead wood than on macrophytes and leaf litter. Significant seasonal patterns described the meiofaunal abundance in sediment and on leaf litter as well as the biomass in sediment, on macrophytes and leaf litter. Organisms in sediment and on dead wood contributed 48 and 43%, respectively, to secondary production m−2, but in regard to the stream area covered by the microhabitats, sediment had the highest share (80%). Significant determinants of the density distribution were AFDM, protozoans, bacteria and Chl-a, which influenced all meiofaunal groups. Our study clearly indicates that meiofaunal organisms in sediment and on dead wood have a remarkable share on total secondary production of lotic systems which is especially relevant for forested low-order streams.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

2020

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“…The "life history" and "reproductive strategy" response traits have been very little investigated in the meiofauna of the littoral zone of lakes and, in any case, are mainly studied in Nematoda, Copepoda and Cladocera (e.g., [45][46][47][48][49]). Based on what has been observed for the meiofauna of lotic environments, it is assumed that these traits are very diversified also for the meiofauna of lakes due to the disparate number of taxa living in lakes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It follows that studies on the respiration modes of different meiofaunal taxa of the littoral zone of lakes could be important to get an idea of meiofaunal resilience to drought and desiccation, or of the chances these organisms have to resist and to adapt to climate change. Schmid-Araya et al [45] suggested that studies on the variation of biomass as a function of the temperature of lakes (but also of other aquatic ecosystems) should be considered a priority in the current context of climate change. Studying meiofaunal traits under climate change impact is of pivotal importance in order to understand the way by which climate-changing environments alter the functioning and the structures of freshwater ecosystems [2], especially in the littoral zone of lakes that is exposed to high variability of the abiotic parameters [15].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Studies on Meiofaunal Traits of the Littoral Zone of Lakes

Cifoni

Boggero

Galassi

et al. 2021

Water

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We carried out an overview of the studies on the traits of the meiofauna of the littoral zone of lakes to investigate the question relating to the Raunkiaeran shortfall (lack of knowledge on biological traits). For this purpose, we selected a series of keywords associated with response and effect traits (feeding habits, locomotion and substrate relation, body size, shape and mass, life history, reproductive strategy, respiration and thermal tolerance) and we counted the relative frequency of occurrence in a set of scientific papers retrieved from Web of Science. The results showed that, except for the traits related to diet and feeding habits, the Raunkiaeran shortfall is very pronounced for all meiofaunal taxa of the littoral zone of lakes, especially for those related to soft-bodied organisms. The reason behind this deficiency concerns many aspects ranging from the high taxonomic expertise required to the intrinsic difficulties of observing organisms of such a small size. The relationship with temperature has not been sufficiently explored and formalized in any of the examined traits; this research aspect needs to be rapidly addressed since the prospects of climate change impacts on lake littorals are expected to be particularly severe.

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“…In an investigation of seasonal variation in production in Icelandic streams, Junker and Cross (2014) report a shift from autochthonous driven food web in summer to an allochthonous one in winter. In similar investigations of stream meiofauna communities, Schmid-Araya et al (2020) and Majdi and Traunspurger (2017) used stable isotopes to reveal seasonal shifts in consumers' trophic niches to incorporate greater amounts of allochthonous material during winter.…”

Section: Communities and Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ecology of River Ice

et al. 2021

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Many of the world's rivers are ice covered for a portion of the year. For instance, the largest database of river ice cover documents that more than half of all of Earth's large rivers are seasonally ice covered (Yang et al., 2020). Freshwater systems are losing ice rapidly, however (Sharma et al., 2019); global scale predictions of river ice cover show that by 2100, average ice duration will decrease by 16.7 days, decreasing linearly with increases in annual mean temperature (Yang et al., 2020). These global scale patterns are further confirmed by in situ river ice records (de Rham et al.

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Biomass and production of freshwater meiofauna: a review and a new allometric model

Cited by 19 publications

References 115 publications

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

An Overview of Studies on Meiofaunal Traits of the Littoral Zone of Lakes

The Ecology of River Ice

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