Ecological indicators and functional groups of copepod assemblages

Connectivity Between Coastal and Oceanic Zooplankton From Rio Grande do Norte in the Tropical Western Atlantic

“…The zooplankton species indicator classified by Björnberg (1963Björnberg ( , 1981 and Bradford-Grieve et al (1999) showed that the most relevant Copepoda group in our analysis included a mixture of neritic and oceanic species from the North Brazil Current, which is under the Shelf Break influence that presents the general scenario of a huge reef system. Campos et al (2017) found a similar result to a coastal area north of the present studied area. Also, holoplanktonic organisms, mainly the oceanic Copepoda, predominated the entire studied region, including the inshore area.…”

“…The main traits separating the Copepoda groups were the reproductive and trophic strategies, and a very similar outcome was found by Campos et al (2017) to a shelf area located North of the present studied area; and, by Neumann-Leitão et al (2018) for the reef system in the Amazonas coastal area. Trophic stratagems and reproduction are normally controlled by female weight, ecosystem temperature, and diet (Blaxter et al, 1998;Bunker and Hirst, 2004;Brun et al, 2017).…”

“…Thus, freshwater flux fertilizes the very coastal area under 10 m depth. Other authors for Northeastern Brazil (e.g., Gusmão et al, 1998;Neumann-Leitão et al, 1999, 2008Campos et al, 2017) registered this same pattern. The constant northeast tradewinds and arid climate in this area permits for the establishment of widespread beaches and dunes, which are in continuous movement due to the absence of anchoring vegetation (Mabesoone and Coutinho, 1970).…”

“…In relation to the zooplankton, previous investigations of tropical Southwestern Atlantic (SWA) were restricted to certain groups (Copepoda: Björnberg, 1963;Chaetognatha: Gusmão, 1986;Cnidaria: Gusmão et al, 2015) or to a few samples evaluated on a macroscale level that were obtained by international expeditions. A zooplankton atlas (Boltovskoy, 1981(Boltovskoy, , 1999 is an important reference of the SWA; however, data from the Rio Grande do Norte littoral area and the connectivity among habitats remains fragmented (e.g., Neumann-Leitão et al, 1999, 2008, and the main functional groups are still incipient (Campos et al, 2017;Neumann-Leitão et al, 2018).…”

Trophic Structure of Neuston Across Tropical and Subtropical Oceanic Provinces Assessed With Stable Isotopes

“…Historically, zooplankton assemblages research has focused mainly on taxonomic studies and those related to community structure (Pomerleau et al, 2015). However, recently, research has veered toward an alternative trait-based approach (Pomerleau et al, 2015;Benedetti et al, 2016;Campos et al, 2017), providing a perspective more focused on groups of species with analogous functional traits. This allows individuals to be classified into types characterized by the presence/absence of certain alleles of a gene, into size classes, ecological guilds, or functional groups (FGs; Tuomisto, 2010).…”