Analysis of sampling methods of estuarine benthic macrofaunal assemblages: sampling gear, mesh size, and taxonomic resolution

Souza, Gabriel Barros Gonçalves de; Barros, Francisco

doi:10.1007/s10750-014-2033-z

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(149 reference statements)

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“…Results are in line with these previous studies, in that rank correlations of data sets between species and higher taxa (most notably genera and families) are very high for proportional abundance data (e.g., Somerfield and Clarke 1995; De Biasi et al 2003; Włodarska-Kowalczuk and Kędra 2007; Souza and Barros 2015). Low taxonomic resolution combined with numerical data transformation may lead to putative information loss, that is, community patterns different from those observed on the species level (Olsgard et al 1998; Lasiak 2003; Musco et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Taxonomic and numerical sufficiency in depth- and salinity-controlled marine paleocommunities

Zuschin¹,

Nawrot²,

Harzhauser³

et al. 2017

Paleobiology

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Numerical and taxonomic resolution of compositional data sets affects investigators’ abilities to detect and measure relationships between communities and environmental factors. We test whether varying numerical (untransformed, square-root- and fourth-root-transformed relative abundance and presence–absence data) and taxonomic (species, genera, families) resolutions reveals different insights into early to middle Miocene molluscan communities along bathymetric and salinity gradients. The marine subtidal has a more even species-abundance distribution, a higher number of rare species, and higher species:family and species:genus ratios than the three habitats—marine and estuarine intertidal, estuarine subtidal—with higher fluctuations in salinity and other physical parameters. Taxonomic aggregation and numerical transformation of data result in very different ordinations, although all habitats differ significantly from one another at all taxonomic and numerical levels. Rank correlations between species-level and higher-taxon, among-sample dissimilarities are very high for proportional abundance and decrease strongly with increasing numerical transformation, most notably in the two intertidal habitats. The proportion of variation explained by depth is highest for family-level data, decreases gradually with numerical transformation, and is higher in marine than in estuarine habitats. The proportion of variation explained by salinity is highest for species-level data, increases gradually with numerical transformation, and is higher in subtidal than in intertidal habitats. Therefore, there is no single best numerical and taxonomic resolution for the discrimination of communities along environmental gradients: the “best” resolution depends on the environmental factor considered and the nature of community response to it. Different numerical and taxonomic transformations capture unique aspects of metacommunity assembly along environmental gradients that are not detectable at a single level of resolution. We suggest that simultaneous analyses of community gradients at multiple taxonomic and numerical resolutions provide novel insights into processes responsible for spatial and temporal community stability.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Taxonomic and numerical sufficiency in depth- and salinity-controlled marine paleocommunities

Zuschin¹,

Nawrot²,

Harzhauser³

et al. 2017

Paleobiology

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“…A cost/benefit analysis was performed using the index proposed by Souza and Barros [19] with the formula: CB = (C t /(1 − p))/1000; in which Ct is the total cost, and p is the precision. The costs (Ct) were calculated using the formula indicated by Andrew and Mapstone [20]: C t = n · C u + C a , in which n is the number of sampling points for each procedure (corer sediment samples pooled for each point), C u is the cost of each sampling unit, measured from the mean time taken to wash samples in laboratory, and C a is the additional cost, assumed as spent value to purchase substances for the preservation of samples in the field, and for safety equipment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost/benefit and the effect of sample preservation procedures on quantitative patterns in benthic ecology

Souza

Barros

2017

Helgol Mar Res

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Some benthic assemblages studies have tested the effects of different preservation procedures on biomass, but their influence on quantitative patterns (number of species and abundance) is still unclear. We evaluated the influence of two sample preservation procedures on quantitative patterns in benthic ecology. Ten sampling points were systematically interspersed on two types of sediment (sandy and muddy). At each sediment type, samples from five sampling points were fixed in 10% formalin, and the other five points were preserved in 70% ethanol (without previous fixation). Three replicates were collected at each sampling point, and samples were washed in 0.5 mesh size and sorted in laboratory. A cost/benefit analysis was performed considering the washing time in laboratory and the costs of substances. A total of 1970 individuals were collected (muddy sediment: 132; sandy sediment: 1838), belonging to 121 taxa (muddy: 49; sandy: 83). Assemblages preserved in ethanol were composed of 795 individuals and 80 taxa, while those fixed with formalin had 1173 individuals and 94 taxa. Polychaeta predominated as the most abundant group for both preservation procedures. For the whole benthic community, significant differences occurred only between sediment types. Significant differences in the number of individuals of polychaetes were observed for the different preservation procedures in sandy sediment. Ethanol has the best cost/benefit ratio in both sediment types due to additional costs to attend safety requirements for formalin-fixed samples. Further studies should evaluate how quantitative patterns are affected by exposure time of preservation, anesthesia interaction, and morphological deformations (e.g. impossibility of identification).

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“…www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ laboratory for further processing and identification. Most invertebrates were identified to family level; family has been shown to be a taxonomically sufficient descriptor of estuarine benthic invertebrates in habitats with strong gradients 32 but still provide information about community identities and their temporal drift 33 . Also, family level was a good choice due to the scarcity of taxonomical studies of the local benthic invertebrates (with several undescribed species) and allowed comparison of the taxon distribution patterns observed in other regions 21 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of benthic metacommunity structure along tropical estuaries

Alves

Petsch

Barros

2020

Sci Rep

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Community structure of many systems changes across space in many different ways (e.g., gradual, random or clumpiness). Accessing patterns of species spatial variation in ecosystems characterized by strong environmental gradients, such as estuaries, is essential to provide information on how species respond to them and for identification of potential underlying mechanisms. We investigated how environmental filters (i.e., strong environmental gradients that can include or exclude species in local communities), spatial predictors (i.e., geographical distance between communities) and temporal variations (e.g., different sampling periods) influence benthic macroinfaunal metacommunity structure along salinity gradients in tropical estuaries. We expected environmental filters to explain the highest proportion of total variation due to strong salinity and sediment gradients, and the main structure indicating species displaying individualistic response that yield a continuum of gradually changing composition (i.e., Gleasonian structure). First we identified benthic community structures in three estuaries at Todos os Santos Bay in Bahia, Brazil. Then we used variation partitioning to quantify the influences of environmental, spatial and temporal predictors on the structures identified. More frequently, the benthic metacommunity fitted a quasi-nested pattern with total variation explained by the shared influence of environmental and spatial predictors, probably because of ecological gradients (i.e., salinity decreases from sea to river). Estuarine benthic assemblages were quasi-nested likely for two reasons: first, nested subsets are common in communities subjected to disturbances such as one of our estuarine systems; second, because most of the estuarine species were of marine origin, and consequently sites closer to the sea would be richer while those more distant from the sea would be poorer subsets. Understanding how community structure of many systems changes across space and how mechanisms, driven mostly by dispersal and environmental filters, determine species distribution patterns in local communities is a central question in community ecology 1-3. Testing how community assembly mechanisms determine species distribution has also become important in metacommunity ecology, an offshoot of community ecology, which has emerged to describe processes occurring at local and regional scales 1,4. A metacommunity can be defined as a set of local communities potentially, but not necessarily, linked by the dispersal of multiple, likely interacting, species 5,6. Assessing processes that affect metacommunity composition particularly in ecosystems characterized by strong environmental gradients is important to provide useful information on species responses to environmental changes across ecological gradients. To understand patterns of spatial variation in species composition, two different and complementary metacommunity approaches have been proposed 7 : one focusing on patterns 7,8 and another focusing on mechanisms 1,9. The patt...

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Analysis of sampling methods of estuarine benthic macrofaunal assemblages: sampling gear, mesh size, and taxonomic resolution

Cited by 27 publications

References 62 publications

Taxonomic and numerical sufficiency in depth- and salinity-controlled marine paleocommunities

Taxonomic and numerical sufficiency in depth- and salinity-controlled marine paleocommunities

Cost/benefit and the effect of sample preservation procedures on quantitative patterns in benthic ecology

Drivers of benthic metacommunity structure along tropical estuaries

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