10 documents found, page 1 of 1
Estuaries from a meiofaunal perspective: biodiversity patterns of benthic nemat...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Ferrero, T.J; Costa, M.J.; Marques, J. C.; Patricio, J.Estuarine meiofauna communities have been only recently considered to be good indicators of ecological quality status, in contrast with macrofauna which is widely used in the assessment and monitoring of aquatic systems. Meiofauna features, such as their small size, high abundance, rapid generation times and absence of a planktonic phase, make these assemblages potential target indicators. In estuaries, we must...
Benthic meiofauna as indicator of ecological changes in estuarine ecosystems: T...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Ferrero, T.J; Marques, J.C; Costa, Maria Jose; Patricio, J.a b s t r a c t Estuarine meiofauna communities have been only recently considered to be good indicators of ecological quality, exhibiting several advantages over macrofauna, such as their small size, high abundance, rapid generation times and absence of a planktonic phase. In estuaries we must account not only for a great natural variability along the estuarine gradient (e.g. sediment type and dynamics, oxygen...
Benthic meiofauna as indicator of ecological changes in estuarine ecosystems: T...
Alves, Ana Sofia; Adão, Helena; Ferrero, T.; Marques, J.C.; Costa, M. J.; Patricio, J.Estuarine meiofauna communities have been only recently considered to be good indicators of ecological quality, exhibiting several advantages over macrofauna, such as their small size, high abundance, rapid generation times and absence of a planktonic phase. In estuaries we must account not only for a great natural variability along the estuarine gradient (e.g. sediment type and dynamics, oxygen availability, t...
Spatial distribution of subtidal Nematoda communities along the salinity gradie...
Adão, Helena; Alves, A.; Patricio, J.; Neto, J. M.; Costa, M. J.; Marques, J.C.of two Portuguese estuaries exposed to different degrees of anthropogenic stress: the Mira and the Mondego. The nematode communities were mainly composed of Sabatieria, Metachromadora, Daptonema, Anoplostoma, Sphaerolaimus and Terschellingia species, closely resembling the communities of Northern European estuaries. In both estuaries, nematode density and community composition followed the salinity gradient, na...
Do nematode and macrofauna assemblages provide similar ecological assessment in...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Costa, Maria Jose; Marques, J.C.; Patricio, J.Do nematode and macrofauna assemblages provide similar ecological assessment information? To answer this question, in the summer of 2006, subtidal soft-bottom assemblages were sampled and environmental parameters were measured at seven stations covering the entire salinity gradient of the Mondego estuary. Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed on the environmental parameters, thus establishing differ...
Spatial distribution of subtidal meiobenthos along estuarine gradients in two S...
Alves, Ana; Adao, Helena; Patricio, J.; Neto, J. M.; Costa, Maria Jose; Marques, J.C.Abstract The spatial variation in abundance and composition of subtidal meiobenthos communities was studied in two Portuguese estuaries under distinct degrees of anthropogenic pressure. Samples were collected from 20 sampling stations along both estuarine gradients from freshwater (<0.5) to euhaline areas (>30). Of these stations 11 were located in the Mondego estuary, a system exposed to high anthropogenic str...
Role of estuarine nematode assemblages in ecological assessment in a southern E...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Patricio, J.; Neto, J. M.; Marques, J. C.To improve nematode’s knowledge in the Mondego estuary (Portugal), the temporal and spatial variations of subtidal free-living marine nematodes communities (density, diversity and trophic structure) along the entire estuarine gradient (freshwater to euhaline areas) were seasonally studied (2006 to 2009). Since 1980, the hydromorphological, physicochemical and ecological responses of the system to both natural a...
Seasonal and spatial variability of nematodes and macrofauna assemblages in the...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Patricio, J.; Neto, J. M.; Vinagre, P.; Verissimo, H.; Marques, J. C.With the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive there is the need to develop assessment tools based on biological data, which are adequate for all European aquatic systems. Macrofauna communities have traditionally been used to assess and evaluate ecological integrity. However, meiofauna communities can also suitably reflect the ecological conditions present in a particular system. Free-living...
Spatial distribution of subtidal meiofauna communities along a salinity gradien...
Alves, Ana; Adão, Helena; Patricio, J.; Neto, J. M.; Costa, Maria Jose; Marques, J.C.Global climate changes contribute to the occurrence of stronger and more frequent extreme events, which have unmistakable impact on temporal and spatial distribution patterns of benthic communities. The interest of studding benthic fauna response to extreme events is to obtain useful information on detecting which organisms better reflect ecological status of systems, and, on the other hand, to understand early...
Nematodes vs Macrofauna assemblages along an estuarine gradient (Mondego estuar...
Adao, Helena; Patricio, J.; Alves, Ana; Neto, J. M.; Teixeira, H.; Marques, J.C.The spatial distribution of the nematodes and macrofauna communities in the subtidal sediments along estuarine gradient in the Mondego estuary was studied. The main aim is to compare the response of the nematodes and macrofauna communities structure adjusted for each estuarine stretch. Spatial distribution of nematode assemblages followed the estuarine gradients, allowing to distinguish: The freshwater and olig...