Patterns of Spatial Variation of Meiofauna in Sandy Beaches of Northwestern Mexico with Contrasting Levels of Disturbance

Pereira, Tiago José; Gingold, Ruth; Villegas, Alma Dora Morelos; Rocha‐Olivares, Axayácatl

doi:10.1007/s41208-017-0038-x

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Spatial analysis revealed that the enhanced database improved OTU assignment across all tidal levels. Our results of a clear separation in community composition between supralittoral areas of the beach, and areas in the lower intertidal zone, with samples from the swash zone around the high tide line falling in between, is in line with previous findings on beach meiofauna (Pereira et al, 2017). Our results show, however, that this pattern was more evident after adding new reference barcodes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In contrast, the higher variability between communities from the supralittoral levels and the swash zone, may indicate these areas’ exposure to more fluctuating environmental conditions or disturbances, leading to reduced community stability. This is plausible as the supralittoral zone of beaches is often heavily influenced by human activities, such as tourism-related activities including trampling and beach driving, which has been shown to have major impacts on meiofauna communities (Gheskiere et al, 2005; Martínez et al, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing metabarcoding efficiency and ecological insights through integrated taxonomy and DNA reference barcoding: a case study on beach meiofauna

Macher,

Martínez,

Çakir

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Molecular techniques like metabarcoding, while promising for exploring diversity of communities, are often impeded by the lack of reference DNA sequences available for taxonomic annotation. Our study explores the benefits of combining targeted DNA barcoding and morphological taxonomy to improve metabarcoding efficiency, using beach meiofauna as a case study. Beaches are globally important ecosystems and are inhabited by meiofauna, microscopic animals living in the interstitial space between the sand grains, which play a key role in coastal biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics. However, research on meiofauna faces challenges due to limited taxonomic expertise and sparse sampling. We generated 775 new cytochrome c oxidase I DNA barcodes from meiofauna specimens collected along the Netherlands' west coast and combined them with the NCBI GenBank database. We analysed alpha and beta diversity in 561 metabarcoding samples from 24 North Sea beaches, a region extensively studied for meiofauna, using both the enriched reference database and the NCBI database without the additional reference barcodes. Our results show a 2.5-fold increase in sequence annotation and a doubling of species-level Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) identification when annotating the metabarcoding data with the enhanced database. Additionally, our analyses revealed a bell-shaped curve of OTU richness across the intertidal zone, aligning more closely with morphological analysis patterns, and more defined community dissimilarity patterns between supralittoral and intertidal sites. Our research highlights the importance of expanding molecular reference databases and combining morphological taxonomy with molecular techniques for biodiversity assessments, ultimately improving our understanding of coastal ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing metabarcoding efficiency and ecological insights through integrated taxonomy and DNA reference barcoding: a case study on beach meiofauna

Macher,

Martínez,

Çakir

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Notably, multiple microcosm studies, field experiments, and literature analyses have been conducted on the topic of nematode responses to physical disturbance (see Schratzberger and Warwick, 1998;Schratzberger et al, 2009;Schratzberger and Somerfield, 2020) and include work that demonstrates that benthic trawling frequency affects nematode community structure (Schratzberger and Jennings, 2002). Two recent works have assessed changes in the meiobenthos in response to the presence of artificial reefs (Semprucci et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2019), and there is a wealth of literature on the effects of urbanization on the benthos (see Felix et al, 2016;Pereira et al, 2018;Muresan et al, 2019). The construction of artificial reefs, though done with conservation purposes in mind, can be detrimental to meiofauna community structure.…”

Section: Nematodes As Indicators Of Physical Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Semprucci et al (2017) found that artificial reefs were the lead contributors to differences in environmental quality between sites, and similarly, Yang et al (2019) found that artificial reef presence modified hydrodynamics of the surrounding area and disturbed sediment structure, which is the major driver of nematode community assemblages in the marine environment (Hong et al, 2020). Works assessing the effects of urbanization of coastal areas show that coastal construction causes decreases in nematode densities due to increased organic enrichment (Carugati et al, 2018), heavy metal pollution (Yen et al, 2020), and altered sediment grain size and topography (Pereira et al, 2018;Muresan et al, 2019). In many of these studies, however, maturity indices were not calculated, even though the maturity index has been identified as an effective metric in determining human impacts on marine systems (Hong et al, 2020).…”

Section: Nematodes As Indicators Of Physical Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suitability of Free-Living Marine Nematodes as Bioindicators: Status and Future Considerations

Ridall

Ingels

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Nematodes are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, and have important roles in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Free-living marine nematodes have been used successfully as indicators of biological health and ocean pollution for at least the past 40 years, but their use as bioindicators is not ubiquitous. They have been most often used specifically as indicators of heavy metal and hydrocarbon pollution, with far fewer instances of their use as indicators of biological, environmental, or physical perturbations. Although free-living marine nematodes are among the best bioindicators owing to their worldwide distributions, abundances, and genus- and species-specific responses to environmental pollution, there are still some challenges that prevent their use globally. Here, we present a review of characteristics that make free-living marine nematodes excellent bioindicators, recent studies that have used them as bioindicators, and suggestions for future directions in the use of these fauna as indicators in the marine environment. Specifically, we consider the use of marine nematodes for microplastics (an understudied class of pollutants that are a future threat to global biodiversity), the value of current nematode indices as measures of ecosystem health, and the importance of improved and continued international collaboration in the field of marine nematology.

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“…Most of the time, they are reported together with other ecological parameters such as diversity indices and community structure (e.g., Alves et al 2013;Baguley et al 2015;Carman et al 2000;Elarbaoui et al 2015;Frontalini et al 2011;Huang et al 2005). Nevertheless, quite often, these are the only data provided in pollution studies (e.g., Bertocci et al 2019;Bohórquez et al 2013;Dal Zotto et al 2016;Gao and Liu 2018;Kim et al 2014;Montagna et al 2013;Morad et al 2017;Pereira et al 2017;Riera et al 2013;Sun et al 2014).…”

Section: ₅₁₇ I��mentioning

confidence: 99%

Índice nematodo/copépodo y las abundancias de nematodos y copépodos como bioindicadores de contaminación: un meta-análisis

2022

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A��.Meiofauna has been considered a suitable group for monitoring pollution effects. Based on different pollution tolerance, a nematode/copepod ratio was proposed as an easy tool for monitoring the effect of anthropogenic activities. Although the validity of this tool has been subject to debate due to controversial results, it is still widely used. To establish a general pa�ern in the response of the ratio and nematode and copepod abundances to the effects of organic enrichment, oil pollution and metal enrichment in the marine environment, we conducted a global-scale meta-analysis. The database consisted of 715 pairs of data obtained from 46 studies published during the last 39 years. We could not find a general trend in the response of nematode and copepod abundances to these pollutants. Regarding the ratio, the only significant difference we found is under the effect of oil pollution. However, this difference appears to be an artifact due to publication bias. The information gathered in this study suggests that the ratio and mean abundances are not reliable tools for monitoring purposes.

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Patterns of Spatial Variation of Meiofauna in Sandy Beaches of Northwestern Mexico with Contrasting Levels of Disturbance

Cited by 11 publications

References 57 publications

Enhancing metabarcoding efficiency and ecological insights through integrated taxonomy and DNA reference barcoding: a case study on beach meiofauna

Enhancing metabarcoding efficiency and ecological insights through integrated taxonomy and DNA reference barcoding: a case study on beach meiofauna

Suitability of Free-Living Marine Nematodes as Bioindicators: Status and Future Considerations

Índice nematodo/copépodo y las abundancias de nematodos y copépodos como bioindicadores de contaminación: un meta-análisis

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