Size scaling patterns of species richness and carbon biomass for marine phytoplankton functional groups

Phytoplankton assemblages were clustered into associations according to functional taxonomic (diatoms, dinoflagellates and coccolithophores) and “ataxonomic” unimodal (nanoplankton, microplankton and macroplankton) size‐based criteria. Scaling relations of species richness‐cell size were performed in terms of histogram and log‐transformed data analyses for both taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. Frequency distribution histograms were fitted to a negative power function, which was strongly unimodal and right skewed and invariant across taxonomic and ataxonomic units. Regression analyses of the log‐transformed data were fitted to negative linear curves, which had common patterns and they were independent of taxonomic or ataxonomic affiliation. Species carbon biomass–cell size spectra produced by log transformation of the relevant data yielded positive slopes for both taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. In contrast, comparisons of the relative cell abundance, cell volume and carbon biomass levels showed large differences among these variables across taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. This work demonstrates that phytoplankton taxonomic and ataxonomic functional group relationships should be considered when developing future models of phytoplankton community structure.     

Tube-forming polychaetes enhance invertebrate diversity and abundance in sandy sediments of Mozambique,Africa

In marine soft-bottom systems, polychaetes can increase habitat complexity by constructing rigid tubes (e.g. several onuphid species) that contrast with surrounding topographically flat sediments. These structures can provide predation refuges and increase larval settlement and thereby increase the richness and abundance of fauna. We collected invertebrate samples from an intertidal flat with low onuphid tube density (2.7 m^–2) in Mozambique and document that more organisms (70 times higher mollusc abundances) and more species (15 times more mollusc species) were found associated with solitary tubes of an onuphid polychaete compared with surrounding sand habitats. These results are in agreement with tube versus sand comparisons from soft-bottom systems in the North Atlantic where polychaete tube densities are often much higher.     

Intertidal macrofauna and environmental stress at a riverine–marine boundary

A field experiment was carried out to test the effect of pore water salinity on the macrobenthic assemblages in an estuarine region of the Tagus estuary (Portugal) subjected to wide fluctuations in salinity. The conditions at the experimental site ranged from freshwater (minimum salinity 0.2) to mesohaline (maximum salinity 15.3). The experimental site was affected by an unexpected deposition of fluid mud during summer. Redundancy Analysis discriminated the experimental treatments along the first canonical ordination axis. The analysis also revealed an experimental gradient of increasing environmental stress, in which the minimal presence of organisms corresponded to treatments representing a high level of environmental stress. Sediment dynamics and saline fluctuations were the major factors that, together, determined the low macrofaunal abundance and species diversity at the experimental site. The most abundant macrofaunal species in this harsh environment were the polychaetes Hediste diversicolor and Streblospio shrubsolii.     

草原化荒漠植被草本层片植物对人工施加氮素的响应

水分是干旱区生态过程的第一非生物限制因子,土壤氮由于直接影响着生物生产力和土壤生态过程而被认为是仅次于水分的限制因子。利用人工施加氮肥的控制试验研究了荒漠植被草本层片植物在多度、物种丰富度、高生长以及地上部分生物量等群落学特征对不同施肥处理的响应。结果表明,在施肥量分别为12.5、25、50 g·m-2时,样方植物多度和物种丰富度在施肥当年和第二年较对照均有不同程度的降低,且施肥量越高,降低越明显,这一结果支持来自典型草地和森林植被生物多样性对氮素增加或氮降沉增加响应的结论,即氮素的增加会使生物多样性减少。地上部分生物量对施氮肥的响应在施肥当年(年降水量为多年平均值的1.4倍)和第二年(年降水量为多年平均值的0.7倍)表现出相反的规律,即施肥当年随着施肥量的增加生物量显著增加,而在第二年则显著减小,说明水肥耦合同样有利于荒漠生态系统生物生产力的提高。氮素对植物高生长的影响不明显,各施肥梯度与对照相比均无显著性差异(P>0.05),这可能主要取决于荒漠草本植物本身固有的生物学特性。     

Diatom community dynamics in a tropical,monsoon-influenced environment: West coast of India

Diatom communities are influenced by environmental perturbations, such as the monsoon system that impact the niche opportunities of species. To discern the influence of the monsoon system on diatom community structure, we sampled during two consecutive post-monsoons (2001 and 2002) and the intervening pre-monsoon at Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru ports along the central west coast of India. Characteristic temporal shifts in diatom community structure were observed across the sampling periods; these were mainly driven by temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen saturation. The nutrient-poor pre-monsoon period supported low abundance yet high species richness and diversity of diatoms. Coscinodiscus, Cyclotella, Thalassiosira, Triceratium, Pleurosigma, Skeletonema and Surirella were the most dominant genera. Both the post-monsoon periods, following dissimilar monsoon events, were dominated by Skeletonema costatum, but differed in some of the residual species. Thalassiosira and Thalassionema spp. dominated mostly during post-monsoon I whereas Triceratium and Pleurosigma spp. dominated during post-monsoon II. To understand the underlying ecological mechanisms involved in such dynamics, we focus on the dominant diatom species in post-monsoon periods, S. costatum, that contributes up to 60% to total diatom cell numbers. This research is relevant in light of the fluctuating monsoon regimes over the Asian continent, the confounding effects of anthropogenic eutrophication and the resulting cascading effects on trophic web dynamics.     

Environmental determinants of leech assemblage patterns in lotic and lenitic habitats

Leeches (Clitellata: Hirudinida) are abundant predators or ecto-parasites inhabiting various freshwater habitats; however many biotic and abiotic drivers of their assemblage patterns have been deduced rather than directly tested. To study species richness and composition changes in leech assemblages, 109 sites of running and stagnant water bodies were sampled in three regions of the Czech Republic in 2007–2010, together with several explanatory variables that are known or expected to be important predictors of leech distribution. In total, 17 species of leeches were recorded, varying between 0–7 and 0–9 species in lotic and lenitic sites, respectively. These differences in species richness of lotic and lenitic sites were highly significant, contrary to the abundances, which varied between 0–283 and 0–295 individuals. The main change in species composition was controlled by water temperature and morphological characteristics (e.g. substrate and cover of macrophytes), mostly reflecting the differences between lotic and lenitic habitats. We found the density of benthos (i.e. prey availability) to be the best predictor of species composition in both lotic and lenitic sites, together with the percentage of canopy cover. However, the other significant predictors (i.e. the substrate and water conductivity found to be significant in lotic sites, and the mean annual temperature and PO₄^3? in lenitic sites), differed between these habitats. Other than mean annual temperature and water temperature, which had different effects on species richness in lotic and lenitic sites, there were no other differences between lotic and lenitic sites in terms of how species richness and abundance responded to all other analyzed predictors. Our results stress the importance of prey availability and canopy for leech distribution patterns. Differences in the significant predictors of leech assemblage patterns between lotic and lenitic sites raise fundamental questions about the underlying mechanisms and ecological constraints to leech distribution in these main types of aquatic systems.     

深圳华侨城湿地物种多样性及其保护研究

深圳华侨城湿地位于珠江口深圳湾北岸,通过箱涵与深圳湾海水相通,总面积69万m2,水域面积约50万m2,是深圳湾湿地生态系统的重要组成部分。对华侨城湿地植被、鸟类、底栖生物、浮游生物的多样性进行了调查,结果表明:华侨城湿地共有植物60科162种,其中真红树植物5科6属7种,半红树植物3科4属5种,外来入侵植物27种;鸟类共有12目36科101种,约占深圳湾鸟类总种数的50%,其中国家Ⅱ级重点保护野生鸟类6种;共鉴定出藻类5门11属14种;浮游动物25种。华侨城湿地面临严重的生态危机,主要包括入侵植物大面积分布、物种单一,鸟类、底栖生物类等生物多样性与福田红树林保护区及凤塘河口相比较低,并据此提出了相应的保护建议。     

利用ND1、ITS1序列研究三种背角无齿蚌（Anodontawoodiana）分类学问题

利用ND1、ITS1序列差异对采自太湖、在形态上被认为是背角无齿蚌、圆背角无齿蚌、椭圆背角无齿蚌的三种个体进行鉴定,并与从NCBI中下载到的同属不同种褶纹冠蚌的ND1、ITS1序列进行对比,分析了基于Kimura2-parameter模型参数得到的遗传距离,并构建了NJ树。结果表明,本研究中所有背角无齿蚌种间遗传距离变...     

Molluskan species richness and endemism on New Caledonian seamounts: Are they enhanced compared to adjacent slopes?

Seamounts were often considered as ‘hotspots of diversity’ and ‘centers of endemism’, but recently this opinion has been challenged. After 25 years of exploration and the work of numerous taxonomists, the Norfolk Ridge (Southwest Pacific) is probably one of the best-studied seamount chains worldwide. However, even in this intensively explored area, the richness and the geographic patterns of diversity are still poorly characterized. Among the benthic organisms, the post-mortem remains of mollusks can supplement live records to comprehensively document geographical distributions. Moreover, the accretionary growth of mollusk shells informs us about the life span of the pelagic larva. To compare diversity and level of endemism between the Norfolk Ridge seamounts and the continental slopes of New Caledonia we used species occurrence data drawn from (i) the taxonomic literature on mollusks and (ii) a raw dataset of mainly undescribed deep-sea species of the hyperdiverse Turridae. Patterns of endemism and species richness were analyzed through quantitative indices of endemism and species richness estimator metrics. To date, 403 gastropods and bivalves species have been recorded on the Norfolk Ridge seamounts. Of these, at least 38 species (∼10%) are potentially endemic to the seamounts and nearly all of 38 species have protoconchs indicating lecithotrophic larval development. Overall, our results suggest that estimates of species richness and endemism, when sampling effort is taken into account, were not significantly different between slopes and seamounts. By including in our analyses 347 undescribed morphospecies from the Norfolk Ridge, our results also demonstrate the influence of taxonomic bias on our estimates of species richness and endemism.     

Overlapping distributions of cryptic Scoloplos cf. armiger species in the western Wadden Sea

Unknowingly lumping cryptic species in biological monitoring studies hinders progress in understanding their functioning in a wide range of research fields including population dynamics, ecophysiology and community ecology. The common polychaete worm Scoloplos cf. armiger is a cryptic species complex comprising entirely different developmental modes: holobenthic and pelago-benthic development. In the northeast Atlantic, three putative species have been described on the basis of molecular data and a breeding study. We report on the development of a fast genotyping assay and on the occurrence and distribution of different molecular types in the western Wadden Sea. The genotyping assay consists of PCR-RFLP analysis by two enzymes of a mitochondrial (cox3-trnQ-nad6) DNA segment. A new, fourth type was observed and this was the only type whose geographical distribution was not uniform but instead skewed toward the eastern part of the study area. All three hitherto known types were also observed and these three displayed a significant difference in depth distribution within the study area. This is the first ecological difference reported for the ‘Subtidal Clade’ (SC) versus the ‘Type Locality Clade’ (TLC). The new type (‘Intertidal Clade 2’) had a similar distribution to what is known as the Intertidal Clade (IC). However, the most striking observation is the large degree of overlap between the depth distributions in the western Wadden Sea, where the clade names ‘Intertidal’ and ‘Subtidal’ do not necessarily reflect local species composition. The necessity to genotype Scoloplos cf. armiger in monitoring programs is emphasized.