Short-term temporal variations in the zooplankton community of the surf zone influenced by estuarine discharge

Holoplankton and meroplankton communities in surf zone waters of a temperate SW Atlantic sandy beach: Seasonal patterns

“…Abundances were lower than those recorded for the holoplankton, but similar to those reported on other sandy beaches (Avila et al, 2009; Pinheiro et al, 2013). Only a few studies recorded higher meroplankton abundances: up to 1000 ind m −3 in North Carolina, USA (Stull et al, 2016) and the Rio Grande do Soul, Brazil (Rodrigues et al, 2019). In the nearby estuary, the meroplankton is generally represented by decapods, cirripeds, polychaetes, and mollusks, the Decapoda being the most abundant group during summer (Berasategui et al, 2018; Table 1).…”

“…In general terms, many species represented by a low number of individuals and a few dominant ones characterize the surf zone faunistic assemblages, many of them shared with nearby coastal ecosystems like estuaries (Fiori et al, 2022). Concerning the general ecology of surf-zooplankton, there are a few studies concentrated in Brazil (Avila et al, 2009;Costa et al, 2011;Oliveira-Santos et al, 2016;Pinheiro et al, 2011Pinheiro et al, , 2013Rodrigues et al, 2019), Argentina (Baleani et al, 2020(Baleani et al, , 2021Menéndez et al, 2019), USA (De Lancey, 1987;Morgan et al, 2017;Stull et al, 2016), Egypt (Aboul Ezz et al, 2014), and Portugal (Guerreiro et al, 2021). Holoplankton (organisms that spend their entire life cycle in the water column) generally dominate the surf zone waters; however, meroplankton (those with only part of their lives in the plankton) can also be relevant in terms of abundance and the number of species.…”

“…Historically, they have been considered simple environments with low species diversity. However, in recent decades, several studies have shown that surf waters harbour a heterogeneous and diverse benthic and pelagic fauna (e.g., Marin Jarrin et al, 2015, 2016; Rodrigues et al, 2019; Stull et al, 2016). Moreover, they are critical areas in the life cycle of many coastal fish species, most of them of commercial importance (e.g., Strydom & d'Hotman, 2005).…”

“…Surf‐zooplankton may also be subjected to strong seasonality associated with the temperature cycle, as seen in the SWA (Argentina, Menéndez et al, 2019) and the Mediterranean Sea (Egypt, Aboul Ezz et al, 2014). In turn, on tropical and subtropical Brazilian beaches, the seasonal variation in precipitation and the associated changes in salinity seem to be the main drivers of zooplankton community structure (Avila et al, 2009; Costa et al, 2011; Pinheiro et al, 2011, 2013; Rodrigues et al, 2019). Until now, the surf‐zooplankton and its links with the environment have been addressed at the community (zooplankton as a whole) or species level.…”

Characterization of the zooplankton in the continental shelf of the Brazilian Equatorial Atlantic

“…This hydrodynamics can generate a sudden change in the pelagic community along with the breaking of the continental margin platform, related to the reduction in density and increase in biodiversity in the neritic-oceanic sense (Hopkins et al, 1981;Angel, 1996). Consequently, there is usually a gradient from the neritic to the oceanic area, where zooplankton can increase strong and constant environmental fluctuations that result from the interaction between marine and freshwater systems (Giller, 1984;Neumann-Leitão et al, 2018;Rodrigues et al, 2019).…”