Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Intertidal meiofaunal biodiversity with respect to different algal habitats: a test using phytal ostracodes from Southern California

  • Primary Research Paper
  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rocky intertidal algae harbor a diverse invertebrate meiofauna of arthropods, nematodes and other invertebrates. Despite its ecological importance, relatively little is known about the diversity and composition of this important component of intertidal biodiversity. In this study, we quantified species composition, abundance and distribution of ostracodes, an important group of phytal meiofauna, at two different intertidal areas in southern California. In total, we recovered 22 ostracode species from three different orders (16 podocopids, five myodocopids and one platycopid), nearly a quarter of which could not be assigned to existing taxa. The abundance of ostracodes differed significantly among algal types, with structurally complex algae bearing many more ostracodes per gram of algae than simple forms (blade-like algae and the surfgrass Phyllospadix). Although most ostracode species were recovered from multiple kinds of algae, different algae harbored distinct assemblages that could be discriminated statistically on the basis of relative abundances of ostracode species. This segregation of the ostracode fauna according to algal species is evident even over very short spatial scales (<1 m). Finally, ostracode samples from turf-forming algae were more species rich than samples from other kinds of macroalgae. Since turf-forming algae are easily damaged by human trampling, this component of ostracode biodiversity may be particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts on the intertidal habitat.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbott, I. A. & G. J. Hollenberg, 1976. Marine Algae of California. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 827 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Addessi, L., 1994. Human disturbance and long-term changes on a rocky intertidal community. Ecological Applications 4: 786–797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athersuch, J., 1979. The ecology and distribution of the littoral ostracods of Cyprus. Journal of Natural History 13: 135–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athersuch, J., D. J. Horne & J. E. Whittaker, 1989. Marine and Brackish Water Ostracods. The Bath Press, Avon, 343 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, R. H., 1959. Ecology of Recent ostracodes of the Todos Santos Bay regions, Baja California, Mexico. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions Monograph 1: 1–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, R. H. & R. L. Kaesler, 1963. Recent marine and lagoonal ostracodes from the Estero de Tastiota region, Sonora, Mexico (Northeastern Gulf of California). University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions Monograph 3: 1–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, D. M. & L. L. Crumrine, 1994. Effects of human trampling on marine rocky shore communities. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 177: 79–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brouwers, E. M., 1990. Systematic paleontology of Quaternary ostracode assemblages from the Gulf of Alaska. Part 1. Families Cytherellidae, Bairdiidae, Cytheridae, Leptocytheridae, Limnocytheridae, Eucytheridae,Krithidae, Cushmanideidae. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper P1510: 1–43.

  • Brouwers, E. M., 1993. Systematic paleontology of Quaternary ostracode assemblages from the Gulf of Alaska. Part 2. Families Trachyleberididae, Hemicytheridae, Loxoconchidae, Paracytherideidae. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper P1531: 1–47.

  • Brouwers, E. M., 1994. Systematic paleontology of Quaternary ostracode assemblages from the Gulf of Alaska. Part 3. Family Cytheruridae. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper P1544: 1–45.

  • Brown, P. J. & R. B. Taylor, 1999. Effects of trampling by humans on animals inhabiting coralline algal turf in the rocky intertidal. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 235: 45–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caramujo, M.-J., E. Van der Grinten & W. Admiraal, 2005. Trophic interactions between benthic copepods and algal assemblages: a laboratory study. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 24: 890–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, K. R. & H. Green, 1988. Statistical design and analysis for a ‘biological effects’ study. Marine Ecology Progress Series 46: 213–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coull, B. C. & J. B. J. Wells, 1983. Refuges from fish predation: experiments with phytal meiofauna from the New Zealand rocky intertidal. Ecology 64: 1599–1609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crouch, R. W., 1949. Pliocene Ostracoda from southern California. Journal of Paleontology 23: 594–599.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elofson, O., 1941. Zur Kenntnis der marinen Ostracoden Schwedems mit Besonderer Berucksichtigung des Skageraks. Zoologiska Bidrag fran Uppsala 19: 215–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gee, J. M., 1989. An ecological and economic review of meiofauna as food for fish. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 96: 243–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach, S. A., 1978. Food-chain relationships in subtidal silty sand marine sediments and the role of meiofauna in stimulating bacterial productivity. Oecologia 33: 55–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli, N. J. & G. L. Entsminger, 2006. EcoSim: Null models software for ecology. Acquired Intelligence Inc. & Kesey-Bear, v. 7.

  • Hagerman, L., 1966. The macro- and microfauna associated with Fucus serratus L., with some ecological remarks. Ophelia 3: 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagerman, L., 1968. The ostracod fauna of Corallina officinalis L. in western Norway. Sarsia 36: 49–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann, V. G., 1959. Zur Kenntnis der lotischen Lebenbereiche der pazifischen Küste von El Salvador unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Ostracodenfauna. Kieler Meeresforsch 15: 187–241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, G. R. F., 1986. Meiofauna associated with rocky shore algae. In Moore, P. G. & R. Seed (eds), The Ecology of Rocky Coasts. Columbia University Press, New York, 36–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horne, D. J., 1982. The vertical distribution of phytal ostracodes in the intertidal zone at Gore Point, Bristol Channel, U.K. Journal of Micropalaeontology 1: 71–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horne, D. J., 2003. Key events in the ecological radiation of the Ostracoda. In Park, L. E. & A. J. Smith (eds), Bridging the Gap: Trends in the Ostracode Biological and Geological Sciences. Yale University Reprographics and Imaging Services, New Haven, 181–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horne, D. J. & J. E. Whittaker, 1985. A revision of the genus Paradoxostoma Fischer (Crustacea; Ostracoda) in British waters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 85: 131–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horne, D. J., A. Cohen & K. Martens, 2002. Taxonomy, morphology and biology of quaternary and living Ostracoda. In Holmes, J. A. & A. R. Chivas (eds), The Ostracoda. Applications in Quaternary Research. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, S. L., 1997. Seasonal changes in diversity and abundance of ostracods on four species of intertidal algae with differing structural complexity. Marine Ecology Progress Series 161: 71–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, S. L., 1998. The distribution and assemblage composition of the ostracod fauna (Crustacea: Ostracoda) on Filey Brigg, North Yorkshire. Journal of Natural History 32: 501–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, S. L., 1999a. Comparison of tidepool phytal ostracod abundance and assemblage structure on three spatial scales. Marine Ecology Progress Series 182: 201–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, S. L., 1999b. Intertidal ostracod (Crustacea: Ostracoda) abundance and assemblage structure within and between four shores in north-east England. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 79: 1045–1052.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamiya, T., 1988. Morphological and ethological adaptations of Ostracoda to microhabitats in Zostera beds. In Hanai, T., N. Ikeya & K. Ishizaki (eds), Evolutionary Biology of Ostracoda. Elsevier, Kodansha, Japan, 303–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keough, M. J. & G. P. Quinn, 1998. Effects of periodic disturbances from trampling on rocky intertidal algal beds. Ecological Applications 8: 141–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kornicker, L. S. & B. Myers, 1981. Rutidermatidae of southern California (Ostracoda: Myocopina). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 334: 1–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Roy, L. W., 1943. Pleistocene and Pliocene Ostracoda of the coastal region of southern California. Journal of Paleontology 17: 354–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Legendre, L. & P. Legendre, 1983. Numerical Ecology. Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Amsterdam, 419 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddocks, R. F., 1969. Revision of recent Bairdiidae (Ostracoda). United States National Museum Bulletin 295: 1–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddocks, R. F., 1990. Living and fossil Macrocyprididae (Ostracoda). University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions Monograph 2: 1–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran, A. E., 2004. Measuring Biological Diversity. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 256 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, K. G., 1965. Myodocopid Ostracoda (Cyprinacea) from Scammon Lagoon, Baja California, Mexico, and their ecologic associations. Crustaceana 9: 5–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, K. G. & F. M. Swain, 1967. Recent Ostracoda from Scammon Lagoon, Baja California. Journal of Paleontology 41: 281–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, C. G. & B. J. Bett, 1989. The use of meiofauna in marine pollution impact assessment. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 96: 263–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nohara, T. & R. Tabuki, 1990. Seasonal distribution of Ostracoda on two species of marine plants and two holothurians in Okinawa, Japan. In Whatley, R. & C. Maybury (eds), Ostracoda and Global Events. Chapman & Hall, London, 355–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen, J., R. Kindt & B. O’Hara, 2005. Vegan: community ecology package. v. 1.6–10.

  • Poulsen, E. M., 1965. Ostracoda-Myodocopa, 2: Cypridiniformes-Rutidermatidae, Sarsiellidae and Asteropidae. Dana Report 65: 1–484.

  • R Development Core Team, 2005. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, v. 2.1.1.

  • Roy, K., A. G. Collins, B. J. Becker, E. Begovic & J. M. Engle, 2003. Antropogenic impacts and historical decline in body size of rocky intertidal gastropods in southern California. Ecology Letters 6: 205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, F., M. Abad, A. M. Bodergat, P. Carbonel, J. Rodriguez-Lazaro & M. Yasuhara, 2005. Marine and brackish-water ostracods as sentinels of anthropogenic impacts. Earth-Science Reviews 72: 89–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, H. L., 1968. Marine benthic diversity: a comparative study. American Naturalist 102: 243–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skogsberg, T., 1928. Studies on marine ostracods. Part II. External morphology of the genus Cythereis, with descriptions of twenty-one new species. California Academy of Science, Occasional Papers 15.

  • Skogsberg, T., 1950. Two new species of marine Ostracoda (Podocopa) from California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 26: 483–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, V. Z., 1952. Further Ostracoda of the Vancouver Island region. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 9: 16–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal, R. R. & F. J. Rohlf, 1995. Biometry. W.H. Freeman & Company, New York, 887 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, F. M., 1967. Ostracoda from the Gulf of California. Geological Society of America Memoir 101: 1–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, F. M., 1969. Taxonomy and ecology of near-shore Ostracoda from the Pacific coast of North and Central America. In Neale, J. W. (ed.), The Taxonomy, Morphology and Ecology of Recent Ostracoda. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 423–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, F. M. & J. M. Gilby, 1967. Recent Ostracoda from Corinto Bay, western Nicaragua, and their relationship to some other assemblages of the Pacific Coast. Journal of Paleontology 41: 306–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, F. M. & J. M. Gilby, 1974. Marine Holocene Ostracoda from the Pacific coast of North and Central America. Micropaleontology 20: 257–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentine, P. C., 1976. Zoogeography of Holocene Ostracoda off western North America and paleoclimatic implications. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 916: 1–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watzin, M. C., 1983. The effects of meiofauna on settling macrofauna: meiofauna may structure macrofaunal communities. Oecologia 59: 163–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whatley, R. C. & D. R. Wall, 1975. The relationship between Ostracoda and algae in littoral and sublittoral marine environments. Bulletin of the American Paleontological Society 65: 173–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R., 1969. Ecology of the Ostracoda from selected marine intertidal localities on the coast of Anglesey. In Neale, J. W. (ed.), The Taxonomy, Morphology and Ecology of Recent Ostracoda. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 299–329.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Horne and an anonymous reviewer for careful and constructive comments on the manuscript, and B. Pister for advice on field collection and algae identification. A. Cohen and D. Horne generously helped us to sort out aspects of ostracode taxonomy and sbiology.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0116, USA

    Kristin Frame & Kaustuv Roy

  2. Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, NHB MRC121, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA

    Gene Hunt

Authors
  1. Kristin Frame
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gene Hunt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kaustuv Roy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gene Hunt.

Additional information

Handling editor: K. Martens

Electronic supplementary material

Below are the electronic supplementary materials.

10750_2007_0707_ESM.pdf

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frame, K., Hunt, G. & Roy, K. Intertidal meiofaunal biodiversity with respect to different algal habitats: a test using phytal ostracodes from Southern California. Hydrobiologia 586, 331–342 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0707-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0707-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation