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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
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How does Copepod Biodiversity
Vary:
Among Sites – M7, M8, M9
Between Seasons – Wet vs. Dry
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• 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.
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Results
Differences between Sites
Differences between Seasons
Differences between Sites vs. Seasons
Diversity Analysis
Site Differences – Both Seasons
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Recovery of Animals from
Water vs. Sediment
Proportion of Species in
Water vs. Sediment
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Macrofauna DataTransform: Fourth root
Resemblance: S17 Bray Curtis similarity
SiteSeason
M7Summer
M8Summer
M9Summer
M7Winter
M8Winter
M9Winter
2D Stress: 0.22
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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
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