Diel and seasonal vertical distribution of meiobenthic copepods in muddy sediments of a eutrophic lagoon (fish ponds of Arcachon Bay)
✍ Scribed by Evelyne Buffan-Dubau; Jacques Castel
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 796 KB
- Volume
- 329
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1573-5141
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The vertical distribution of meiobenthic copepods was investigated within muddy sediments of a eutrophic lagoon (fish ponds of Arcachon Bay, France) . The aim of the study was to determine if in muddy sediments, as previously established in sandy sediments, meiobenthic copepods migrate vertically according to the seasons or diel periods . Two experimental approaches were used, viz : a three-season comparison was made of the diel vertical distribution of the harpacticoid Canuella perplexa T. & A. Scott (1893) and secondly the depth distribution of a meiobenthic copepod assemblage was followed for a 24 h period, in shallow water subtidal locations . The harpacticoid C. perplexa vertically migrated through the top three centimeters of the sediment, showing diel and seasonal variations in depth distribution . The differential vertical distributions shown by the dominant meiobenthic populations suggest that emergence into the water column may mainly concern surface dwelling copepods . The physical and biological factors affecting seasonal and diel changes in the copepod assemblage of the fish ponds are discussed .