Effects of environmental factors on Tigriopus fulvus, Fischer 1860, a Mediterranean harpacticoid copepod

Abstract

Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer, 1860) is a benthic harpacticoid copepod of the Mediterranean supralittoral zone. The transitional characteristics of this environment forced this species to develop high resistance to changes of environmental parameters. Nevertheless, Tigriopus fulvus life-cycle is influenced from the splashpools physical-chemical parameters. In this paper, we present the results of a supralittoral monitoring performed in 2014, confirming the influence of some of these environmental parameters on population buildups. Because of recent worldwide climate change effects, a threat might have been posed on this particularly exposed organism, whose population density decreased of a sixfold value in the last 30 years. During the three pools (A, B, C) monitoring, the maximum copepod density recorded was 1456 Ind/l (September 2014, Pool C), alongside first records of extinction event for Tigriopus fulvus.

Sea-level change and the supralittoral environment: Potential impact on a splashpool habitat on the Ligurian coast (NW Mediterranean)

“…If we analyze the salinity data collected and reported in Bonello et al (17) , we can identify two different conditions. While pools A and B showed a mean salinity of 45.2 ± 7.3 and 45.0 ± 4.8 PSU, respectively, pool C, positioned higher than the others on the cliff, saw an increased variability in this variable, as confirmed by the obtained standard deviation (55.8 ± 24.2 PSU).…”

“…The coastal pools evaluated in this study were recently re-described from rockpools to splashpools (17,28) , as they receive saltwater inputs only from spray during heavy seas and storms, and are not tidally influenced. (12) Sea-level projections SLR projections for the year 2100 in Genoa by Kopp et al (29) were used to simulate several sealevel conditions in the study area.…”

“…It must be noted that the only water inputs in the selected splashpools were rainfall and marine spray as no other sources (leaks, creeks, tidal action) were able to interact with the water collections. More details on the sampling methodology can be found in Bonello et al (17) Particular attention was given to the presence of larval stages of A. mariae (Diptera: Culicidae).…”

“…In this area, different resident species were identified, some of which inhabit these pools year-round, such as the harpacticoid copepod Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer, 1860), while others are strictly seasonal, such as the culicid Acartomyia mariae (Sergent&Sergent, 1903). (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) A. mariae is distributed along the Western-Mediterranean coast, and in Italy it can be found along the Tyrrhenian coasts of the peninsula and in the major islands, probably excluding south-western Sicily; in this latter area, along the entire Adriatic and Ionian coasts, it is replaced by the twin species A. zammitii (Coluzzi & Sabatini, 1968). A. mariae is the species that currently resides in the Genova Nervi splashpools (20) and is known to be an obnoxious biter that commonly attacks humans and animals.…”

Discordant pattern between realised and fundamental saline niches in two supralittoral Ochthebius species (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae)

“…Despite the importance of physiological salinity tolerance studies and their relations with vertical zonation patterns, most current knowledge has been acquired by focusing on intertidal organisms (e.g., Hoyaux et al, 1976; Iwabuchi & Gosselin, 2020; McMahon, 2003), and very little attention has been paid to supralittoral species. Of them, crustacea have been the most widely studied, such as some harpacticoid copepod species of Tigriopus Norman (e.g., Bonello et al, 2018; McAllen et al, 1998; McAllen & Taylor, 2001; Ranade, 1957), the crab Armases miersii (Rathbun) (e.g., Anger, 1996; Anger et al, 2000; Charmantier et al, 1998; Torres et al, 2007), and several species belonging to the genus Ligia Linnaeus (e.g., Todd, 1963; Wilson, 1970; Zhang et al, 2016). Other salinity tolerance studies have been conducted on mollusc littorinid species (e.g., Muraeva et al, 2017; Sundell, 1985) and, to a lesser extent, on insects, like those carried out on the larvae of some mosquito species (Margalef, 1949), the collembola Anurida maritima (Guerín) (Witteven & Joosse, 1987), and the beetle Ochthebius quadricollis (Hase, 1926; Jacquin, 1956).…”