The Fauna of Floating Cyanobacterial Mats in the Oligohaline Eulittoral Zone off Hiddensee (South-west Coast of the Baltic Sea)

Abstract. The fauna — including macrofauna, meiofauna, and large ciliates — of floating cyanobacterial mats in a brackish shallow-water area was studied by analysing six 20 cm² pieces of mat. Although these microbial aggregations were scarcely 1 cm thick, their total meiofauna abundance was about five times as high as in the uppermost 4 cm of the adjacent sediment. The mat fauna was dominated by harpacticoids, although large ciliates, rotifers, nematodes, and oligochaetes were also markedly more abundant than in the sediment. All species occurring in the mats were members of the surrounding sediment fauna. Out of the 47 species found, only a few, among them predominantly the harpacticoid, Mesochra lilljeborgi B oeck , 1864, and the nematode Daptonema setosum ( bütschli , 1874), accounted for the majority of the individual abundance in the mats. Both are regularly found in sulphidic biotopes near Hiddensee. As SEM micrographs revealed, the oligochaete Paranais litoralis (O. F. M üller , 1788) and the harpacticoid Cletocamptus confluens (Schmeil, 1894) were apparently optimal substrates for dense lawns of cyanobacteria. This indicates possible close interactions between the meiofauna and these microbiota. The frequent predation of histophagous ciliates on nematodes and harpacticoids, which were probably weakened by oxygen deficiency and/or high sulphide concentrations, were not only a sign of a generally neglected pathway in the food chain, but also impressively emphasized the huge variety of interactions taking place between meio- and microfauna within this specific benthic microcosm. Because of their floating character, the mats can play an important role in the dispersal of benthic fauna.     

土地覆被变化与管理对土壤动物群落演变的耦合效应

以黑河中游人工绿洲边缘天然草地及其转变的人工梭梭灌木林（21 a）、人工杨树林（28 a）、人工樟子松林（33 a）和农田（开垦27 a和100 a）为研究对象,基于6种研究样地中小型土壤动物群落的调查数据,采用多变量排序和通径分析等方法,研究了土地利用/覆被变化与管理措施对中小型土壤动物群落及其主要类群演变的耦合效应。主要结果是:①将天然草地转变为未实施管理措施的人工梭梭灌木林后并未引起土壤动物群落组成、数量和物种多样性的显著变化,而转变为实施管理措施的杨树和樟子松人工林及农田后,导致了土壤动物群落组成、数量和物种多样性的变异,证实了土地覆被变化对中小型土壤动物群落的作用及其效应受管理措施的强烈调控。②土壤动物群落的演变过程受土地覆被变化与灌溉和施肥管理的共同影响,其中灌溉的贡献率最大,是关键驱动因子。③不同土壤动物类群对土地覆被变化和管理耦合作用的响应不同。灌溉对跳虫、甲螨和革螨的个体数量和物种丰富度的直接影响和总效应最大;施肥对辐螨的个体数量和物种丰富度的直接影响和总效应最大;灌溉和施肥对稀有类群的个体数量和物种丰富度的直接影响和总效应均较大,具同等重要的作用。结论是,土地覆被变化与管理耦合作用通过改变土壤水文和生态环境条件驱动了中小型土壤动物群落的演变过程。     

Size partitioning of microbial and meiobenthic biomass and respiration on Brown's Bank, south-west Nova Scotia

Biomass and respiration (oxygen consumption) of bacteria, microfauna, and meiofauna were measured in coarse sand sediment from Brown's Bank (172 m) off Nova Scotia, Canada. Community biomass, excluding macrofauna, had a median value of 35 mg C m⁻², dominated by bacteria (51%), microfauna (25%), and a minor meiofauna component (2·5%). Protozoan microfauna were mostly microflagellates (colourless cryptomonads). The experimental design allowed partitioning of benthic metabolism without using subtraction from whole community rates. Addition-removal experiments with fauna separated into size categories were used to construct a respiration-biomass regression for all taxa. Respiration rates for faunal groups were then calculated from their biomass in the natural sediment. Total microbial and meiofaunal community respiration had a median rate of 0·55 ml O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ which was partitioned into median proportions of bacteria (50%) microflagellates (27%), and metazoan meiofauna (4%). Correlations among faunal biomass values from incubated vials of sediment suggested that bacteria were important prey for protozoans. With added biomass of meiofauna, protozoans also became a potentially important source of prey. The results demonstrated the significance of microflagellate protozoans in these sediments and their metabolic and trophic importance relative to meiofauna and even bacteria.