Meiofauna: An Inconspicuous but Important Player in Mudflat Ecology

Moens, Tom; Beninger, Peter G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-99194-8_5

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 267 publications

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“…Nematodes were extracted alive by decantation over a 38‐μm sieve after vigorous stirring of the sediment with a jet of tap water to facilitate the release of the nematodes (Moens, 2018) that were then collected from the sieve using a small volume of Artificial Seawater (ASW) (Dietrich & Kalle, 1957). The decanting and sieving step was repeated 10 times.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bacteria in marine sediments account for about three-quarters of all bacteria on Earth (Hoshino et al, 2020;Turley, 2000) and play a crucial role in marine biogeochemical processes that affect climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (Azam & Malfatti, 2007;Dang, 2020;Voss et al, 2013). Understanding the mechanisms that influence bacterial-mediated marine biogeochemical cycles represents a persistent challenge for predicting the future dynamics and consequences of environmental changes (Achterberg, 2014;Azam & Malfatti, 2007).Nematodes are the most abundant and one of the most species-rich metazoan taxa worldwide and in every realm (Moens et al, 2013), with numbers of individuals in aquatic sediments typically ranging between 100 thousand and 10 million per square meter (Moens, 2018), and numbers of species in marine environments worldwide being estimated at 50 thousand (Appeltans et al, 2012) to 10 million (Lambshead et al, 2003). Nematodes are often used as…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nematodes alter the taxonomic and functional profiles of benthic bacterial communities: A metatranscriptomic approach

Guden,

Haegeman,

Ruttink

et al. 2024

Molecular Ecology

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Marine sediments cover 70% of the Earth's surface, and harbour diverse bacterial communities critical for marine biogeochemical processes, which affect climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nematodes, the most abundant and species‐rich metazoan organisms in marine sediments, in turn, affect benthic bacterial communities and bacterial‐mediated ecological processes, but the underlying mechanisms by which they affect biogeochemical cycles remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate using a metatranscriptomic approach that nematodes alter the taxonomic and functional profiles of benthic bacterial communities. We found particularly strong stimulation of nitrogen‐fixing and methane‐oxidizing bacteria in the presence of nematodes, as well as increased functional activity associated with methane metabolism and degradation of various carbon compounds. This study provides empirical evidence that the presence of nematodes results in taxonomic and functional shifts in active bacterial communities, indicating that nematodes may play an important role in benthic ecosystem processes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Nematodes alter the taxonomic and functional profiles of benthic bacterial communities: A metatranscriptomic approach

Guden,

Haegeman,

Ruttink

et al. 2024

Molecular Ecology

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“…1.5 cm 2 using clean scissors. Each structure was thoroughly rinsed with tap water; the tap water causes an osmotic shock which temporarily ‘sedates’ the nematodes, facilitating their removal from surfaces [ 56 ]. We collected the tap water and sieved it over a 38-μm sieve, then preserved it in DESS (dimethyl sulphoxide disodium EDTA [ 57 ]) prior to counting.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization of macroalgal deposits by estuarine nematodes through air and potential for rafting inside algal structures

et al. 2021

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Dispersal is an important life-history trait. In marine meiofauna, and particularly in nematodes, dispersal is generally considered to be mainly passive, i.e. through transport with water currents and bedload transport. Because nematodes have no larval dispersal stage and have a poor swimming ability, their per capita dispersal capacity is expected to be limited. Nevertheless, many marine nematode genera and even species have near-cosmopolitan distributions, and at much smaller spatial scales, can rapidly colonise new habitat patches. Here we demonstrate that certain marine nematodes, like the morphospecies Litoditis marina, can live inside macroalgal structures such as receptacula and–to a lesser extent–floating bladders, which may allow them to raft over large distances with drifting macroalgae. We also demonstrate for the first time that these nematodes can colonize new habitat patches, such as newly deposited macroalgal wrack in the intertidal, not only through seawater but also through air. Our experimental set-up demonstrates that this aerial transport is probably the result of hitchhiking on vectors such as insects, which visit, and move between, the patches of deposited algae. Transport by wind, which has been observed for terrestrial nematodes and freshwater zooplankton, could not be demonstrated. These results can be important for our understanding of both large-scale geographic distribution patterns and of the small-scale colonization dynamics of habitat patches by marine nematodes.

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“…Mudflat microbial mats and transient epibenthic biofilms constitute an assemblage of microphytobenthos (mainly cyanobacteria and diatoms), as well as associated non‐photosynthetic microbes and occasional meiofauna, all within a communally secreted mucopolysaccharide matrix (Beninger et al 2018, Hubas et al 2018, Moens and Beninger 2018). Microbial mats are stable over days or weeks, depending on wave conditions, whereas transient epibenthic biofilms develop and recede over the course of a single tidal cycle (Beninger and Paterson 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the tip of the tongue: natural history observations that transformed shorebird ecology

Beninger

Elner

2020

Ecosphere

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Citation: Beninger, P. G., and R. W. Elner. 2020. On the tip of the tongue: natural history observations that transformed shorebird ecology. Ecosphere 11(5):Abstract. A new field of shorebird feeding ecology has been opened, stemming directly from natural history observations of previously overlooked morphological and behavioral features. We describe how the pieces of this puzzle were assembled to reveal a fascinating story of small shorebird migration, trophic level shift, and direct feeding upon mudflat superficial biofilm just prior to breeding. Many unexplored avenues of research have arisen, including a trampoline effect of resource timing, the potential trade-off between trophic imperatives and toxic co-products, and the particular utilization of this resource in small, as opposed to large, shorebirds.

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Meiofauna: An Inconspicuous but Important Player in Mudflat Ecology

Cited by 9 publications

References 267 publications

Nematodes alter the taxonomic and functional profiles of benthic bacterial communities: A metatranscriptomic approach

Nematodes alter the taxonomic and functional profiles of benthic bacterial communities: A metatranscriptomic approach

Colonization of macroalgal deposits by estuarine nematodes through air and potential for rafting inside algal structures

On the tip of the tongue: natural history observations that transformed shorebird ecology

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