Effects of macroepifauna on developing nematode and harpacticoid assemblages in a subtidal muddy habitat

Abstract

In a low energy subtidal muddy sediment in Loch Creran, a sea-loch of W Scotland, meiofaunal colonization of azoic sediment was studied in cages designed to exclude macrofauna. High diversity assemblages developed rapidly. Considerable variation in species composition was found, both for nematodes and harpacticoids, and no indication that exclusion of the macrofauna was influencing the early colonizing individuals. For harpacticoid species, results indicated a strong successional pattern inside the cages. The semi-pelagic harpacticoid copepod Longipedia helgolandica became extremely abundant inside the cages, while it was hardly found in the background sediment. The initial colonization by most of the harpacticoids was marked by a high proportion of copepodites. The exclusion of macroepifauna did not result in a simpler meiofaunal community as one would expect if suppression of dominant competitive relationships by macroepifauna occurred. -from Authors