scholarly journals New records of marine planktonic invertebrates from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-1) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Allan Carrillo-Baltodano ◽  
Álvaro V. Morales-Ramírez ◽  
Jeffrey A. Sibaja-Cordero ◽  
Jorge Cortés

 The coral reef at Cahuita National Park in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica represents very diverse marine ecosystem. Most of this diversity knowledge has been the result of benthic surveys, while very little is known from pelagic studies. A zooplankton survey sampling was conducted monthly from September 2010 to August 2011, finding new records of marine invertebrates: 32 for the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, seven for Costa Rican water and 16 for the Caribbean coast of Central America. These reports include the hoplitomella larva of the sponge Thoosa sp., larval stages of three lophophorates, seven families, five genera and six species of polychaetes, a juvenile of the lancet Branchiostoma (Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Cephalochordata) and four pelagic chordates. Analyzing the zooplankton of Cahuita, is an essential approach to studying not only the diversity, but also enhances the possibility of better understanding the ecological goods and services that the coral reef can provide.

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Marco Corrales-Ugalde ◽  
Iván Castellanos-Osorio ◽  
Álvaro Moráles-Ramírez

Although appendicularians are relevant primary consumers and are part of every zooplankton community, there is a lack of information on the species present in different ocean regions. Thus, regional identification guides are useful to develop datasets with high taxonomic resolution. Appendicularian species were identified in 33 epipelagic samples of zooplankton collected in several locations of Costarican waters. Eighteen appendicularian species were identified, of which 15 were found in the Pacific and only three in the Caribbean. Seven species are new records for Costa Rican Pacific waters (Appendicularia sicula, Fritillaria charybdae, F. cf. pacifica, F. tenella, F. pellucida f. omani, Oikoipleura fusiformis f. cornutogastra and Pelagopleura verticalis). Data for each species distribution in Costa Rica is presented together with a key for the identification of appendicularian species recorded in the Inter-American seas and the Eastern Tropical Pacific.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harlan K Dean

The polychaete fauna of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica has been inadequately characterized with only nine species previously reported. Collections of polychaetes from intertidal coralline rocks and several shallow sub-tidal sites on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica have been examined and 68 species were identified. Of these, 66 are new records for Costa Rica.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-1) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Greivin Vega-Álvarez ◽  
Juan Carlos Azofeifa-Solano ◽  
Cindy Fernández-García ◽  
Rebeca Soto-Molinari ◽  
Maricruz Rojas-Angulo ◽  
...  

Abstract: Marine macroalgae are highly diverse and play an important role in marine ecosystems, influencing ecological processes. Recording the algae diversity with precise taxonomic identification is required to understand the marine ecosystems. The biodiversity of macroalgae along the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica has been studied by several authors, and the updated checklist includes 396 species of benthic marine algae reported for both Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, from which 287 are recorded from the Caribbean. Eighty percent of the total specimens from the Caribbean coast deposited in botanical collections in Costa Rica were collected at Cahuita National Park, an area where most of the studies have been carried out. This study reports on the addition of five new species and one genus of marine benthic macroalgae to the Caribbean Costa Rican flora, found at the poorly studied reefs of Playa Chiquita (Punta Cocles) and Punta Uva. Sampling was directed, searching for benthic macroalgae at Chiquita beach (SCUBA diving and snorkel) and Punta Uva (snorkel only), during October 2014. Specimens were deposited in the Dr. Luis A. Fournier Origgi Herbarium of the University of Costa Rica (USJ). Most of the new records were Chlorophyta, followed by Rhodophyta and Ochrophyta-Phaeophyceae. We recorded four new genera for the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica: Microdictyon Decaisne, 1841, Rhipidosiphon Montagne, 1842, Predaea G. De Toni, 1936, and Augophyllum S.-M. Lin, S. Fredericq & M. H. Hommersand, 2003. In conclusion, is necessary to continue the detailed taxonomic works in the Caribbean coast, focusing on areas poorly studied, in order to improve our knowledge of the marine flora of Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 66(Suppl. 1): S328-S339. Epub 2018 April 01. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo Quesada-Román ◽  
Paula M. Pérez-Briceño

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Loría-Naranjo ◽  
Jimena Samper-Villarreal ◽  
Marylaura Sandoval-Siles ◽  
Jorge Cortés

Seagrass beds are an important ecosystem on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. At Cahuita National Park (CNP) a seagrass bed at Perezoso has been monitored continually since 1999 within the CARICOMP program. Thalassia testudinum is the dominant seagrass species, in some cases mixed with Syringodium filiforme. The results from the 2009 to 2015 monitoring period are presented here, and contrasted with data before 2009. Total (above and below ground tissue) mean biomass of T. testudinum was higher (1 255.4 ± 146.0 gm-2) than biomass before 2009, with an increasing tendency. However, productivity (1.5±0.59 gm-2d-1) and turnover rate (4.3 ± 1.22 %d-1) were lower than previous monitoring periods. In this period, mean leaf area diminished considerably (4.9 ± 2.30 m2), but leaf area index (LAI) increased (1.9 ± 0.80 m2leafm-2) in comparison to prior monitoring. Productivity, density, turnover rate, LAI and biomass showed intra-annual variations; while mean biomass of T. testudinum did not vary significantly among years. No correlations were found between water salinity, temperature and clarity with seagrass measurements. However, most seagrass parameters were strongly correlated with precipitation. These results highlight the effect of external environmental agents acting on the ecosystem. CNP presents a long-term stable seagrass meadow. However, there are indirect signals, such as high biomass and above-ground biomass proportion, along with low productivity and LAI, which point to a nutrient increment in Perezoso’s seagrass bed. To continue protecting this seagrass bed, it is necessary to improve monitoring methods, and seagrass beds should be included in national conservation policies and monitoring programs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 02 (03) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Fernández Arce ◽  
Daniel Solís ◽  
Juan Luis Porras ◽  
Gino González

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4816 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-216
Author(s):  
PHILIP A. HASTINGS ◽  
RON I. EYTAN ◽  
ADAM P. SUMMERS

Acanthemblemaria aceroi new species is described from the upwelling region of the Caribbean coasts of Venezuela and Colombia. It differs from its closest relative, Acanthemblemaria rivasi Stephens, 1970, known from Panama and Costa Rica, in the posterior extent of the infraorbitals, details of head spination, and unique COI sequences. The description of Acanthemblemaria johnsonsi Almany & Baldwin, 1996, heretofore known only from Tobago, is expanded based on specimens from islands offshore of eastern Venezuela. 


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