Nematode assemblages were studied in tropical lagoonal carbonate sands at four regions in the Pacific Ocean. This material was compared to other described nematode assemblages originating from ecologically similar sites. Data were aggregated to a range of hierarchical taxonomic levels. The contribution of different environmental variables to the variability of nematode assemblages was estimated at local, regional (four studied regions) and global scales (this study plus other available data). All nematode assemblages were significantly different at species and generic levels between different study regions. At higher taxonomic levels (family and order) most regions were not distinguishable and the assemblages were dominated by Desmodoridae, Chromadoridae and Xyalidae. Multivariate analysis showed that mean grain size, silt content and depth contributed mostly to the variability of nematode assemblages at the local scale whereas geographical co-ordinates were most important at regional and global scale. However, the weak relationship between sediment characteristics, co-ordinates and biota suggests that other variables are important in structuring nematode assemblages at a global scale.
Dataset
Boucher, G. & Rzeznik-Orignac, J. (2003). Data base Bougainville. Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle Paris (MNHN), France., more
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