Contribution to the knowledge of meiobenthic Copepoda (Crustacea) from the Sardinian coast, Italy

Noli, N.; Sbrocca, C.; Sandulli, Roberto; Balsamo, Maria; Semprucci, Federica

doi:10.32800/amz.2018.16.0121

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…It is known to be a migratory species that is able to live indifferently as epibiont of macroalgae or in the water column [14]. This species has a cosmopolitan distribution and has already been reported for Italian waters (see [70] for review). Another cosmopolitan species that was very abundant in the study area was Laophonte cornuta Philippi, 1840.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat-Diversity Relations between Sessile Macrobenthos and Benthic Copepods in the Rocky Shores of a Marine Protected Area

Sbrocca

Troch

Losi

et al. 2021

Water

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In rocky shore systems, sessile macrobenthic assemblages may act as “ecosystem engineers” for many smaller benthic organisms. Thus, the influence of macrobenthic coverage on the diversity and assemblage structure of the harpacticoid copepod fauna was investigated in the rocky shores of a Marine Protect Area (MPA) in the Ligurian Sea (NW, Mediterranean Sea). Two sampling sites were investigated in two seasons at three different depths on both sub-vertical and inclined reefs. A total of 61 species of copepods mainly represented by Miraciidae, Laophontidae, Longipediidae and Thalestridae were found. The complex micro-topography of these substrata provided a wide variety of niches for many species with different lifestyles that suggests the important role of rocky shores to ensure the functioning of coastal ecosystems. The harpacticoid assemblage structure seemed mainly influenced by season and depth. The temporal spread observed is likely one of the underlying mechanisms of niche segregation that allows many species to co-occur in this specific environment along with a subordinate spatial segregation corresponding to the depth gradient. The results seem to support the hypothesis that the different species composition of the “ecosystem engineer” (and consequently its structure changes) are relevant in structuring the copepod assemblages. The comparison with previous data on general meiofauna underlines that higher surrogacy of the taxonomic identification could be used to study rocky shore communities, but the rich diversity that these systems host can only be understood at the lower taxonomic levels. The same holds for future evaluations of impact of environmental changes (including MPA regulations) on meiofaunal assemblages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another cosmopolitan species that was very abundant in the study area was Laophonte cornuta Philippi, 1840. It was found in several types of substrata from shallow to deep zones and in relation to different types of algae or invertebrates [70].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat-Diversity Relations between Sessile Macrobenthos and Benthic Copepods in the Rocky Shores of a Marine Protected Area

Sbrocca

Troch

Losi

et al. 2021

Water

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“…Benthic harpacticoids enter into the sediments in one of three ways: interstitially, by digging or epibenthically. These modes range from coastal basins to deep abyssal bottoms [55][56][57].…”

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confidence: 99%

Assessing Metallic Pollution Using Taxonomic Diversity of Offshore Meiobenthic Copepods

et al. 2022

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The Gulf of Gabès, located on the south-east Tunisian coast, is an important maritime area, with great influence on the local economy and human welfare. The aim of the current study was to assess the response of meiobenthic copepod populations from this gulf to anthropogenic disturbances. Nine sampling sites, situated along the shores of the gulf were surveyed seasonally from winter of 2004 to autumn of 2005. Interestingly, this biotope has one of the highest semi-diurnal tides in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the fact that the data being presented here are not that new, such a high maximum amplitude of tides reaching 2 m makes any information available on animals with diurnal dispersal cycles such as copepods extremely precious. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge on these crustaceans is obvious and lags behind that of numerous other meiobenthic taxa and planktonic calanoids. Actually, most publications do not reach the species level and are limited to determining densities. This is mainly due to the modest size of harpacticoids, and the lack of qualified taxonomic experts and global taxonomic databases. Sediment samples were analyzed for fluorine, carbohydrates and trace metals (i.e., Fe, Zn and Cd) content. A pollution index, based on the eigenvalues of the main ordination axis of a Principal Component Analysis, was applied. The highest values of chemicals were detected at the sites situated near an industrial complex, along with significant variations among seasons. The copepod community comprised 38 species, including five species new to science. Species richness, density and biomass of copepod communities varied among sites and seasons. These community-based indices were also analyzed separately for each season with conditional autoregressive models, revealing a significant negative response with the level of pollution. However, the results of partial Mantel tests showed positive correlations between species richness and pollution level, after controlling for the effect of geographic proximity in-between pairs of sites (winter: r = 0.927, p < 0.0001; spring: r = 0.935, p < 0.0001; summer: r = 0.918, p < 0.0001; autumn: r = 0.937, p < 0.0001). The overall pattern was that nearby sites were characterized by similar pollution levels and inhabited by similar species of copepods. Moreover, the copepod communities were significantly influenced by pollutants, mainly by trace metals. The results of the current survey emphasize the usefulness of meiobenthic copepods in biomonitoring programs not only for the gulf of Gabès, but also for other coastal areas from the Mediterranean Sea region.

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Winter spring assemblage pattern of harpacticoid copepods from lagoon waters of Agatti and Kavaratti, Lakshadweep islands, southeastern Arabian Sea

Nandan

Hershey

et al. 2023

J Earth Syst Sci

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Contribution to the knowledge of meiobenthic Copepoda (Crustacea) from the Sardinian coast, Italy

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Habitat-Diversity Relations between Sessile Macrobenthos and Benthic Copepods in the Rocky Shores of a Marine Protected Area

Habitat-Diversity Relations between Sessile Macrobenthos and Benthic Copepods in the Rocky Shores of a Marine Protected Area

Assessing Metallic Pollution Using Taxonomic Diversity of Offshore Meiobenthic Copepods

Winter spring assemblage pattern of harpacticoid copepods from lagoon waters of Agatti and Kavaratti, Lakshadweep islands, southeastern Arabian Sea

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