1/11/2014

1

Indian River Lagoon

Meiobenthic Copepod

Abundance & Diversity

Near the Mouth of the

St. Lucie Estuary

Adelaide Rhodes, Ph.D.

Harte Research Institute

Texas A&M University

Corpus Christi, TX

1/11/2014

2

1/11/2014

3

1/11/2014

4

GRAVEL SAND SILT

M7 0.0% 93.0% 7.0%

M8 0.0% 90.4% 9.6%

M9 0.3% 93.6% 6.1%

1/11/2014

5

1/11/2014

6

1/11/2014

7

How does Copepod Biodiversity

Vary:

Among Sites – M7, M8, M9

Between Seasons – Wet vs. Dry

1/11/2014

8

• In June and December 2010 eight benthic cores

were collected with an Ogeechee corer device

(18 cm2 ) at sites M7, M8, and M9 and preserved

in formalin with Rose Bengal.

• Macrofauna were sieved:

500 µm Nitex screen.

• Meiobenthos fractions treated

with Ludox silica sol, shaken and

centrifuged – the recovered

organisms were passed through a

63 micron mesh screen and stored

in 70% ethanol.

• The 10 cm of water immediately above the

sediment was passed through a 63 micron screen

and preserved in formalin with Rose Bengal in situ.

• Water samples were taken at

0.5 m above the sediment before

coring to catalog animals present

in the water column.

• All benthic organisms from the

sediment and water samples were

sorted, identified to lowest taxa

and counted.

1/11/2014

9

Results

Differences between Sites

Differences between Seasons

Differences between Sites vs. Seasons

Diversity Analysis

Site Differences – Both Seasons

1/11/2014

10

Seasonal Differences – All Sites

Site x Season Differences

1/11/2014

11

Recovery of Animals from

Water vs. Sediment

Proportion of Species in

Water vs. Sediment

1/11/2014

12

Longipedia americana

1/11/2014

13

Diversity Between Sites - Copepods

Diversity Between Sites - Macrofauna

1/11/2014

14

Macrofauna DataTransform: Fourth root

Resemblance: S17 Bray Curtis similarity

SiteSeason

M7Summer

M8Summer

M9Summer

M7Winter

M8Winter

M9Winter

2D Stress: 0.22

1/11/2014

15

AllDataTransform: Fourth root

Resemblance: S17 Bray Curtis similarity

SiteSeason

M7Summer

M8Summer

M9Summer

M7Winter

M8Winter

M9Winter

2D Stress: 0.25

Next Steps

• Developing Better Species Lists for Each Site (175 Recorded Macrofuana Species, 17 Recorded Copepod Species)

• Analyze Data for Associated Meiobenthos

• Genetic Analysis to Check for Population Differences

1/11/2014

16

Example 18S Sequences

Acknowledgements –

Benthic Ecology Team