Mariene nematoden van de laagwaterlijn van het strand van De Panne: diversiteit en verticale distributie in het sediment
Van Laere, P. (2003). Mariene nematoden van de laagwaterlijn van het strand van De Panne: diversiteit en verticale distributie in het sediment. MSc Thesis. Universiteit Gent: Gent. 120 pp.
During this licentiates thesis the meiobenthos of the De Panne Bad beach was studied. Samples were taken in two stations located near the MLWS. A first sampling was done in february, followed by a second one in October. The samples were sliced verticaly in layers of two centimeters to get an overview of the vertical distribution of the present meiobenthic organisms as well as, in greater detail, the nematode-species. After this was done, the present meiofauna was counted and identified at higher taxon-level. From every sample to 220 nematodes were picked out to be identified at species-level. A total of 13 higher meiobenthic taxa were counted (including nauplii) and 39 species of free-living marine nematodes were identified. Based hereon, the effect of depth (vertical distribution) as well as season (seasonal variance) was examined. Out of multiple analyses (ANOVA, SIMPER-ANOSIM, MDS and cluster-analysis) that were processed on the datamatrix (meio-fauna and nematode-fauna) we can concluded that the features depth and season can both be characterised by their specific species-composition and -densities. Furthermore there is the effect of the spring-phytoplankton-bloom on the densities in October, visible up to minor depth in the sediment, and this especially for Nematoda and Turbellaria. These taxa show a clear increase in density for October with the maximum at a depth of 2 - 4 cm. Harpacticoida, nauplii and Tardigrada display the inverse effect. And also the diversity in October was strangely enough lower than the diversity in February.
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