10-15m. Cualitativamente, la comunidad zooplanctónica de las dos estaciones fue muy similar. Se identificaron 18 grupos zooplanctónicos, destacando por su abundancia relativa los copépodos, apendiculados, nauplios de balánidos y cladóceros en ambas estaciones. Estos últimos dominaron entre los meses de julio-septiembre (período de aguas cálidas) en las aguas internas de la bahía. La relación entre el índice de surgencia y la temperatura del agua con la variación en la densidad y composición zooplanctónica reflejó una fuerte influencia de los factores abióticos.

Se analizó la composición y abundancia del zooplancton de la laguna El Morro en la isla de Margarita, Venezuela, durante el periodo de surgencia (marzo-mayo 2011) y de relajación (junio-agosto 2011). Las muestras fueron recolectadas en 6 estaciones de las diferentes zonas de la laguna. Se realizaron calados con una red de plancton de 333 µm durante 10 minutos. Se midió in situ la temperatura, salinidad y oxígeno disuelto, además de nutrientes. Se registraron valores medios de temperatura de 29.7 ºC, salinidad de 36 ups, oxígeno disuelto de 5.9 mg.L-1. La concentración de nutrientes fue baja (medias de 0.12; 0.04; 0.03 mg.L-1 para nitrato, nitrito y fosfato, respectivamente). Se detectaron diferencias significativas temporales con mayores registros en la temporada de relajación, mientras que espacialmente no mostró diferencias, a pesar que en las estaciones internas (Est. 4,5,6) se obtuvo mayor abundancia. Se identificaron quince grupos zooplanctónicos, determinándose nueve especies del grupo Copepoda, dos de Cladocera, una de Decapoda, Tunicada y Rotifera y diferentes formas larvarias de distintos taxa. Las larvas de crustáceos presentaron la abundancia media y relativa más alta (47738 ind.m-3 y 46.83%, respectivamente), seguido del copépodo Oithona nana (31740 ind.m-3 y 25.94%, respectivamente) y Paracalanus quasimodo (12958 ind.m-3 y 8.47%, respectivamente). Esta laguna involucra la estacionalidad surgencia-relajación como un efecto importante en la distribución y abundancia del zooplancton.

No abstract

Los copépodos son el grupo más numeroso del zooplancton en los sistemas costeros tropicales; ellos se ven afectados principalmente por los gradientes de salinidad, como ocurre en el sector oriental del golfo de Cariaco. El propósito de este estudio fue estudiar las variaciones temporales y espaciales de la estructura de la comunidad de copépodos durante junio, julio, agosto y septiembre de 2009 (época de lluvia) y octubre, noviembre y diciembre de 2009 y enero de 2010 (época de sequía). Las muestras se recolectaron con una red estándar de zooplancton de 60 cm de diámetro con una malla de 330 μm a nivel superficial. La temperatura, salinidad y oxígeno disuelto se tomaron in situ con una sonda multiparamétrica (YSI). La salinidad presentó una marcada variabilidad mensual, con valores entre 32,5 ± 1,56 y 38,5 ± 0.25 UPS en las épocas de lluvia y sequía, respectivamente. Se identificó un total de 45 taxones de copépodos y Acartia tonsa fue la especie más representativa durante todo el estudio, seguido por Temora turbinata, Paracalanus quasimodo, Subeucalanus subcrassus y S. subtenuis. El presente estudio no mostró un claro patrón estacional en la abundancia, diversidad y la uniformidad de la comunidad de copépodos y los valores de salinidad; por lo tanto, puede considerarse espacialmente uniforme y estacionalmente homogéneo en relación a estos parámetros.

Venezuela has suffered a severe academic and research management crisis and funding opportunities for marine research and data management have been practically absent. This has worsened over the past five years and, as a result, libraries and other institutional spaces have been repeatedly vandalised, with hundreds of records, specimens and historical data stolen, destroyed or burned. To avoid the loss of irreplaceable data on Venezuelan biodiversity, an initiative was promoted, aimed at digitising information to create a rich dataset of biodiversity records, with emphasis on marine protected areas for the country, as well as to fill gaps in the distribution and status of marine biodiversity in Venezuela. Nighteen (19) institutions in the country focusing on marine science have consistently produced a wealth of information about Venezuela’s marine biodiversity in the form of specimen collections, unpublished sampled data and research theses through the work of hundreds of researchers and students. An inventory of available data sources at these national institutions was conducted under the National Biodiversity Data Mobilization Grant and the Biodiversity Information for Development Program, together with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) support. All recovered and processed datasets were published in the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) repositories. This occurrences data collection represents a major contribution to the marine biodiversity inventory in Venezuela. It is based on numerous published papers, reports, books and checklists provided by experts, covering a broad taxonomic collection from which we obtained species occurrences (present and absent), organised into 59 datasets containing 40,881 records. This represents a 28.49% contribution to the records of the Venezuelan marine biodiversity reported to the OBIS (143,513 records in the OBIS until November 2022). The extracted data showed 3,041 marine species, with representatives of each of the six kingdoms: Animalia, Chromista, Bacteria, Plantae, Fungi and Protozoa. The datasets provide information on occurrence since 1822, extending the temporal coverage of the species occurrence inventory for Venezuela, which was established in 1879 before this project. The number of records for Venezuela increased by 41.3% compared with the data available before the project. Most of the occurrences (63.47%) were registered in Marine Protected Areas. Data collection included records of non-native species, descriptions of new species and species listed under different IUCN categories.

Venezuela has suffered a severe academic and research management crisis, and funding opportunities for marine research and data management have been practically absent. This has worsened over the past five years, and as a result, libraries and other institutional spaces have been repeatedly vandalized, with hundreds of records, specimens, and historical data stolen, destroyed, or burned. To avoid the loss of irreplaceable data on Venezuelan biodiversity, an initiative aimed at digitizing information to create a rich dataset of biodiversity records, with emphasis on marine protected areas for the country, as well as to fill gaps in the distribution and status of marine biodiversity in Venezuela. Around 10 institutions in the country focusing on marine science have consistently produced a wealth of information about Venezuela’s marine biodiversity in the form of specimen collections, unpublished sampled data, and research theses through the work of hundreds of researchers and students. An inventory of available data sources at these national institutions was conducted under the National Biodiversity Data Mobilization Grant and the Biodiversity Information for Development Program, together with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) support. All recovered and processed datasets were published in the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) repositories. This data collection represents a major contribution to the marine biodiversity inventory in Venezuela. It is based on numerous published papers, reports, books, and checklists provided by experts, covering a broad taxonomic collection of 3,041 marine species, with representatives of each of the five kingdoms: Animalia, Chromista, Bacteria, Plantae, and Protozoa. The datasets provide information on occurrence since 1822, extending the temporal coverage of the species occurrence inventory for Venezuela, which was established in 1879 before this project. The species occrrences are organized into 59 datasets containing 40,881 records, which represent a 28.49% contribution to the records of Venezuelan marine biodiversity reported to the OBIS (143,513 records in OBIS until November 2022). The number of records for Venezuela increased by 41.3% compared with the data available before the project. Most of the occurrences (63.47%) were registered in Marine Protected Areas. Data collection included records of non-native species, descriptions of new species, and species listed under different IUCN categories.

No abstract