title: Relationships between meiofaunal biodiversity and prokaryotic heterotrophic production in different tropical habitats and oceanic regions.
abstract: Tropical marine ecosystems are among the most diverse of the world oceans, so that assessing the linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem functions (BEF) is a crucial step to predict consequences of biodiversity loss. Most BEF studies in marine ecosystems have been carried out on macrobenthic diversity, whereas the influence of the meiofauna on ecosystem functioning has received much less attention. We compared meiofaunal and nematode biodiversity and prokaryotic heterotrophic production across seagrass, mangrove and reef sediments in the Caribbean, Celebes and Red Seas. For all variables we report the presence of differences among habitats within the same region, and among regions within the same habitat. In all regions, the richness of meiofaunal taxa in reef and seagrass sediments is higher than in mangrove sediments. The sediments of the Celebes Sea show the highest meiofaunal biodiversity. The composition of meiofaunal assemblages varies significantly among habitats in the same region. The nematode beta diversity among habitats within the same region is higher than the beta diversity among regions. Although one site per habitat was considered in each region, these results suggest that the composition of meiofaunal assemblages varies primarily among biogeographic regions, whereas the composition of nematode assemblages varies more considerably among habitats. Meiofauna and nematode biodiversity and prokaryotic heterotrophic production, even after the removal of covariate effects linked with longitude and the quantity and nutritional quality of organic matter, are positively and linearly linked both across regions and within each habitat type. Our results confirm that meiofauna and nematode biodiversity may influence benthic prokaryotic activity, which, in turn, implies that diversity loss could have negative impacts on ecosystem functioning in these systems.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pusceddu
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gambi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Corinaldesi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise 'G. Caporale', Experimental Regional Centre for Fishery and Acquacolture, Termoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariaspina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scopa
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Danovaro
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D052836:Heterotrophic Processes; D009348:Nematoda / Q000254:growth & development; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals