Preliminary studies of the tardigrada communities from a polymetallic nodule area of the deep South China Sea

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Science

Paulo Fontoura¹  Lifen Bai²  Bo Lu²  Xiaogu Wang²  Xinyu Huang²  Qinyi Lin²  Yujie Li²  Chunsheng Wang³ 

[1] Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal;MARE, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA- University Institute, Lisbon, Portugal;Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Hangzhou, China;Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Hangzhou, China;Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Zhuhai, China;

关键词: marine tardigrades;    heterotardigrada;    meiofauna;    diversity indexes;    deep sea;    South China Sea;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2023.1110841

 received in 2022-11-29, accepted in 2023-03-14,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Knowledge about marine tardigrades from the South China Sea is very scarce, with only four species from shallow waters recorded to date. The present study investigated the structure and diversity of tardigrade communities from the deep sea (1517-1725 m) at 8 stations in a polymetallic nodule area of the northern South China Sea. A total of 151 arthrotardigrades were collected belonging to 11 genera (Angursa, Batillipes, Coronarctus, Euclavarctus, Exoclavarctus, Halechiniscus, Moebjergarctus, Raiarctus, Rhomboarctus, Tanarctus and Tholoarctus), representing 17 species. Two Angursa species (Angursa sp. 4 and Angursa sp. 3) were the most abundant (25.2% and 14.6%, respectively), followed by Moebjergarctus sp. (13.9%). Specimens were mostly (90.7%) distributed in the upper layer of the sandy-mud sediment (0-1 cm). The SIMPROF test showed that the composition of tardigrade communities at all stations was not significantly different. At different stations, the number of species, Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Pielou’s evenness index ranged from 4 to 10, 1.94 to 2.87, and 0.75 to 1.00, respectively. The average taxonomic distinctness (Δ+) ranged from 72.50 to 90.00, and the variation in taxonomic distinctness (Λ+) ranged from 316.67 to 1181.25. This study provides some basic information about the biodiversity of the marine tardigrade community in the South China Sea.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Wang, Bai, Wang, Lu, Li, Lin, Huang and Fontoura