Examining the diet of meiofauna: a critical review of methodologies

Majdi, Nabil; Schmid‐Araya, J. M.; Traunspurger, Walter

doi:10.1007/s10750-019-04150-8

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 141 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ideal basis for assigning nematodes to trophic groups is detailed studies of nematode feeding. unfortunately, there have been very few such studies, in either natural or experimental conditions (Majdi et al 2020). Instead, the best information on the trophic relationships of many nematodes comes from opportunistic observations of behaviour or recognition of foods in the gut or mouth of specimens, either live or dead.…”

Section: Basis Of the Assignment Of Nematodes To A Trophic Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylum Nematoda: feeding habits for all valid genera using a new, universal scheme encompassing the entire phylum, with descriptions of morphological characteristics of the stoma, a key, and discussion of the evidence for trophic relationships

Hodda

2022

Zootaxa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper details a system for classifying the trophic relationships of the entire Phylum Nematoda, together with a table specifying the categories of every valid genus. This system encompasses both the diets of nematodes and how the food is obtained. The types of evidence used to evaluate trophic relationships and the inferences that can be drawn from each are evaluated. The general morphological and ecological characteristics of each trophic type are detailed, and a morphological key is presented. This information will enable the trophic relationships of any valid genus of nematodes to be assessed, along with currently undescribed genera, provided their affinities to existing genera can be ascertained. The system and list can add value to ecological, environmental and biodiversity studies where there is no morphological information, for example in environmental sequencing or metabarcoding studies.

show abstract

Section: Basis Of the Assignment Of Nematodes To A Trophic Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylum Nematoda: feeding habits for all valid genera using a new, universal scheme encompassing the entire phylum, with descriptions of morphological characteristics of the stoma, a key, and discussion of the evidence for trophic relationships

Hodda

2022

Zootaxa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Potential food sources for lotic meiofauna are detritus, algae, bacteria and protozoans (Perlmutter and Meyer 1991;Arndt 1993;Borchardt and Bott 1995;Schmid-Araya and Schmid 2000;Weitere et al 2018;Majdi et al 2020). In turn, they serve as prey for, e.g., macrofauna organisms like chironomid larvae (Ptatscheck et al 2017), flatworms (Beier et al 2004;Kreuzinger-Janik et al 2018), crustaceans Traunspurger 2016, 2017), as well as for juvenile fish (Weber and Traunspurger 2015), thus representing a major trophic link within the food web between the microfauna and larger invertebrates and vertebrates (reviewed by Ptatscheck et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Meiofaunal abundance, biomass and secondary production were investigated over 13 months in an unpolluted first-order stream. Four microhabitats were considered: sediment and the biofilms on dead wood, macrophytes and leaf litter. The relative contribution of the microhabitats to secondary production and the influence of environmental factors on meiofaunal density distribution were estimated. We expected (1) meiofaunal abundance and biomass to exhibit seasonal patterns, with more pronounced seasonal fluctuations on macrophytes and leaf litter than in the other microhabitats, (2) annual secondary production to be highest in sediment; however, the relative contribution of the microhabitats to monthly secondary production would change during the year, and (3) a bottom-up driven influence on meiofaunal density distribution in the microhabitats. Meiofaunal annual mean abundance, biomass and secondary production were 7–14 times higher in sediment and on dead wood than on macrophytes and leaf litter. Significant seasonal patterns described the meiofaunal abundance in sediment and on leaf litter as well as the biomass in sediment, on macrophytes and leaf litter. Organisms in sediment and on dead wood contributed 48 and 43%, respectively, to secondary production m−2, but in regard to the stream area covered by the microhabitats, sediment had the highest share (80%). Significant determinants of the density distribution were AFDM, protozoans, bacteria and Chl-a, which influenced all meiofaunal groups. Our study clearly indicates that meiofaunal organisms in sediment and on dead wood have a remarkable share on total secondary production of lotic systems which is especially relevant for forested low-order streams.

show abstract

“…The most analyzed response trait was the one related to the diet of the animals. Despite our knowledge of the trophic ecology of meiofauna is still lagging behind that of zooplankton, macroinvertebrates and vertebrates, studies have inferred the diet of meiofauna using several techniques encompassing feeding observations, incubation experiments, gut content analyses as well as sophisticated analyses such as Raman spectrometry and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry [21]. Thanks to these techniques, today we have at least an idea of the trophic ecology of many meiofaunal taxa and the results of the present study showed that this aspect was explored in many meiofaunal organisms of the lake littorals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same difficulties were due to the scarcity of studies related to the "locomotion and substrate relation" trait which has been investigated almost exclusively in nematodes, rotifers, some crustaceans and gastrotrichs e.g., [55,56]. Majdi et al [21] suggested using laboratory populations with mesocosms to study certain traits that otherwise would not be directly observable in the field e.g., [57,58].The results obtained also indicate that the traits receiving the least interest are respiration and thermal preference. These traits, on the other hand, require an indepth study, especially considering the future climate change scenarios that will dramatically affect the coastal areas of lakes [59,60].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meiofauna are broadly defined as organisms smaller than 0.5 mm [18] comprising several taxa, such as microscopic protists, rotifers, nematodes, oligochaetes, microcrustaceans and larval chironomids, but also tardigrades, gastrotrichs and microturbellarians. Meiofauna are ubiquitous, can live among sand grains, interstitial pores, biofilms, and detrital particles [19] and play a complex and important role in benthic food webs (e.g., [20,21]). Some meiofaunal taxa, like rotifers, tardigrades, and nematodes, can withstand adverse conditions such as desiccation, high temperatures and radiation [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An Overview of Studies on Meiofaunal Traits of the Littoral Zone of Lakes

Cifoni

Boggero

Galassi

et al. 2021

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We carried out an overview of the studies on the traits of the meiofauna of the littoral zone of lakes to investigate the question relating to the Raunkiaeran shortfall (lack of knowledge on biological traits). For this purpose, we selected a series of keywords associated with response and effect traits (feeding habits, locomotion and substrate relation, body size, shape and mass, life history, reproductive strategy, respiration and thermal tolerance) and we counted the relative frequency of occurrence in a set of scientific papers retrieved from Web of Science. The results showed that, except for the traits related to diet and feeding habits, the Raunkiaeran shortfall is very pronounced for all meiofaunal taxa of the littoral zone of lakes, especially for those related to soft-bodied organisms. The reason behind this deficiency concerns many aspects ranging from the high taxonomic expertise required to the intrinsic difficulties of observing organisms of such a small size. The relationship with temperature has not been sufficiently explored and formalized in any of the examined traits; this research aspect needs to be rapidly addressed since the prospects of climate change impacts on lake littorals are expected to be particularly severe.

show abstract

Examining the diet of meiofauna: a critical review of methodologies

Cited by 11 publications

References 141 publications

Phylum Nematoda: feeding habits for all valid genera using a new, universal scheme encompassing the entire phylum, with descriptions of morphological characteristics of the stoma, a key, and discussion of the evidence for trophic relationships

Phylum Nematoda: feeding habits for all valid genera using a new, universal scheme encompassing the entire phylum, with descriptions of morphological characteristics of the stoma, a key, and discussion of the evidence for trophic relationships

Meiofauna in stream habitats: temporal dynamics of abundance, biomass and secondary production in different substrate microhabitats in a first-order stream

An Overview of Studies on Meiofaunal Traits of the Littoral Zone of Lakes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About