Diversity patterns of free-living nematode assemblages in seagrass beds from the Cuban archipelago (Caribbean Sea)

Abstract

Diversity patterns of free-living marine nematodes in tropical seagrass beds are understudied. Here, we describe the species richness and assemblage composition of nematodes in 13 seagrass sites covering the whole Cuban archipelago. Nematodes were collected from Thalassia testudinum seagrass beds and identified to species level. We provide a checklist of nematode species from seagrass beds. The species richness of nematode assemblages is high, with 215 species, 138 genus, 35 families, seven orders and two classes. That γ-diversity is higher than other studies and points to seagrass beds as diversity hotspots of free-living marine nematodes. Local species richness in seagrass bed sites is about 57 ± 17 species and broadly similar across the sites, despite the environmental heterogeneity. The geographical distance plays a weak, but significant, role on the decay of similarity likely affected by limited dispersal of nematodes. The pairwise similarity values, related to poor-coloniser nematodes, were twice more affected by the distance than those related to good-colonisers, possibly due to differential success of transport and settlement.

Application Potential of Bacterial Volatile Organic Compounds in the Control of Root-Knot Nematodes

“…Moisture is another critical factor for the survival of nematodes. It has been highlighted that an insufficient amount of water in the soil would affect nematodes’ ability to move toward their host roots [ 40 , 41 ]. Flooding represents an opposite strategy to control nematodes in soils.…”

Small‐scale spatiotemporal variability and distance–decay relationships in intertidal micro‐ and meiobenthic assemblages

“…Further studies confirmed that most taxa exhibited significant DDS relationships, but there was considerable variation in DDS slopes among surveys and taxa. In general, the level of environmental control increased, while the pure spatial effect decreased (down to non‐significant level) for smaller organisms and for more effective dispersers, for example, those with pelagic stages (Armenteros et al, 2020; Astorga et al, 2012; Josefson & Göke, 2013; Shurin et al, 2009; Teittinen & Soininen, 2015). An extensive meta‐analysis (Hanson et al, 2012) showed that for microbial eukaryotes, environmental variables explained more variation in composition and had a significant effect twice as often as geographical distance.…”