scholarly journals MOLLUSCS FROM THE UPPER MESOPHOTIC ZONE IN A SCARCELY KNOWN REEF OF THE WESTERN EQUATORIAL ATLANTIC

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
Cristiane Xerez Barroso ◽  
João Eduardo Pereira de Freitas ◽  
Paula Spotorno ◽  
Frederico Tapajós de Souza Tâmega ◽  
Wilson Franklin Júnior ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems ◽  
Representative Species ◽  
Molluscan Fauna ◽  
Tropical Reef ◽  
Molluscan Diversity ◽  
Brazilian Province

Despite the increasing focus on biodiversity of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) on a global scale, some biological groups, such as molluscs, are still poorly investigated. The taxonomic diversity of the molluscan fauna of a scarcely known MCE of the Western Equatorial Atlantic, Northeastern Brazil, was surveyed. Samples were collected along the shallower strata of the upper mesophotic zone (between 33-36 m depth). Twenty-one taxa (nine species of gastropods, ten species of bivalves, and two taxa of chitons) were listed, two of which (Novastoa sp. and Thylaeodus sp.) are potential endemic species. A new northern limit of distribution of Persicula moscatellii was established and seven species had new bathymetric records for living specimens (Barbatia domingensis, Barbatia cancellaria, Lamychaena hians, Leiosolenus bisulcatus, Pinctada imbricata, Hipponix incurvus, and Persicula moscatellii). Hipponix costellatus are the most representative species with 49 individuals, followed by Lima caribaea with six individuals. The present work is the first contribution to the knowledge of the molluscan fauna associated with consolidated substrates from this little-known MCE. Keywords: mesophotic coral ecosystems, tropical reef, molluscan diversity, Brazilian Province, conventional SCUBA.

Molluscan biostratigraphy of the lower River Bend Formation at the Martin Marietta Quarry, New Bern, North Carolina

1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Rossbach ◽  
Joseph G. Carter
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Gulf Coastal Plain ◽  
Generic Level ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Molluscan Fauna ◽  
Molluscan Diversity ◽  
Molluscan Species ◽  
River Bend

The lower River Bend Formation at the Martin Marietta New Bern quarry in Craven County, North Carolina, contains a diverse and abundant moldic molluscan fauna. This fauna, reconstructed by latex casts, suggests a Vicksburgian or a post-Vicksburgian, pre-Chickasawhayan age for the New Bern exposure. Forty-one molluscan species and subspecies are presently identified from the lower River Bend Formation, 11 of which are new: Turritella caelatura alani, Turritella neusensis, Galeodaria britti, Phalium newbernensis, Cymatium planinodum, Oocorys vadosus, Ecphora wheeleri, Lyria concinna, Scaphella saintjeani, Turricula (Orthosurcula) aequa, and Lucina (Stewartia) micraulax. This fauna is virtually identical at the generic level and similar at the species level to the Vicksburgian faunas of the Gulf Coastal Plain. About 37 percent of the New Bern species also occur in the Vicksburgian of Mississippi, although many of these species reach considerably larger sizes at New Bern. Apparent evolutionary transitions between previously known Vicksburgian and Chickasawhayan mollusks suggest a time of deposition intermediate between these two Oligocene stages.Moderately high molluscan diversity, the abundance of characteristically warm-water genera, and associated carbonate-rich sediments suggest that the lower River Bend Formation represents a subtropical, open-marine, predominantly carbonate environment immediately seaward of a nearshore lagoonal or barrier island complex.The lower River Bend Formation at New Bern differs faunally, climatically, and sedimentologically from the upper River Bend Formation in quarry exposures near Belgrade, North Carolina. The upper River Bend Formation contains a lower diversity molluscan fauna with marked dominance diversity and few warm-water taxa. It represents a slightly cooler nearshore, open-marine environment in a transitional siliciclastic-carbonate sedimentary regime. The considerable taxonomic and sedimentologic differences between the lower and upper parts of the River Bend Formation corroborate microfossil evidence suggesting that they represent temporally distinct depositional cycles.

scholarly journals The tapejarid pterosaur Tupandactylus imperator from Crato Formation and the preservation of cranial integuments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hebert Bruno Nascimento Campos ◽  
Edio-Ernst Kischlat
Keyword(s):  
Soft Tissue ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Soft Tissues ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Unusual Pattern ◽  
Exceptional Preservation ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe group Tapejaridae forms a clade of toothless pterosaurs easily recognized by their premaxillary sagittal crests and particularly large nasoantorbital fenestrae. The tapejarids represent the most representative group of pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin (Northeastern Brazil). The holotype of the large tapejarid Tupandactylus imperator Campos and Kellner, 1997 is known by two main slabs from the New Olinda Member of the Crato Formation, however, only one of the slabs containing the sagittally bipartite skull is referred to the holotype of Tupandactylus imperator, remain the counter-slab be properly described. The cotype is fragmented in several broken pieces and presents a significative number of cranial elements. A medial internasal septum completely preserved inside the nasoantorbital fenestra is reported for the first time for pterosaurs. The exceptional preservation of a collagenous septum and other integumentary structures visible in the cotype specimen is extremely rare and supports the concept of the unusual pattern of soft tissue observed in the fossils from the Crato Konservat-Lagerstätte, specially pterosaurs. Herein is presented the description of the cotype of Tupandactylus imperator, in complementation to the previously designated slab of the holotype of this tapejarid species. The occurrence of casques in pterosaurs is supported by comparative anatomy with the bird galliform Pauxi (Cracidae). Besides that, it is discussed on the skull with extravagant cranial crests of Tupandactylus imperator and the significance of the associated soft tissues and other cranial integuments, which indicates an expressive morphological and taxonomic diversity among the tapejarid pterosaurs.

scholarly journals Responses of the molluscan fauna to environmental variations in a Halodule wrightii Ascherson ecosystem from Northeastern Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 1397-1410 ◽  
Author(s):  
KCRISHNA V.S. BARROS ◽  
CRISTINA A. ROCHA-BARREIRA
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Halodule Wrightii ◽  
Hypnea Musciformis ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Distributions ◽  
Environmental Variations ◽  
Vertical Variations ◽  
Molluscan Fauna

ABSTRACT This study observed the spatial and temporal distributions of molluscs in a Halodule wrightii meadow, verifying if they respond satisfactorily to seasonal changes in this seagrass ecosystem. Twenty-four species were identified. Chitons were rare, bivalves had greater number of species (11), followed by gastropods (9) which were also the most abundant class (73%). All classes were more abundant in the belowground. The most common species was Tricolia affinis, especially in aboveground. The occurrence of some species in both strata or out of the expected stratum may have been influenced by shallow layer of the sediment considered in this study, hydrodynamic, and low biomass of the studied meadow. According to univariate and multivariate analyses, despite of molluscan descriptors had been related to variables associated with rainfall, the seagrasses had an important role on the seasonal and vertical variations of the molluscan fauna. The biomass of the epiphyte Hypnea musciformis was correlated to temporal variations of the species from aboveground, indicating its secondary role for this community. The molluscs were sensible to environmental variations, and also reflected seasonal changes of the seagrass, showing that damages on these meadows reflect even at lower levels of the marine food web.

scholarly journals Evaluating Stream Restoration Projects: What Do We Learn from Monitoring?

Water ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zan Rubin ◽  
G. Kondolf ◽  
Blanca Rios-Touma
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Heterogeneity ◽  
Stream Restoration ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Ecological Condition ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Know How ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Meta Analyses

Two decades since calls for stream restoration projects to be scientifically assessed, most projects are still unevaluated, and conducted evaluations yield ambiguous results. Even after these decades of investigation, do we know how to define and measure success? We systematically reviewed 26 studies of stream restoration projects that used macroinvertebrate indicators to assess the success of habitat heterogeneity restoration projects. All 26 studies were previously included in two meta-analyses that sought to assess whether restoration programs were succeeding. By contrast, our review focuses on the evaluations themselves, and asks what exactly we are measuring and learning from these evaluations. All 26 studies used taxonomic diversity, richness, or abundance of invertebrates as biological measures of success, but none presented explicit arguments why those metrics were relevant measures of success for the restoration projects. Although changes in biodiversity may reflect overall ecological condition at the regional or global scale, in the context of reach-scale habitat restoration, more abundance and diversity may not necessarily be better. While all 26 studies sought to evaluate the biotic response to habitat heterogeneity enhancement projects, about half of the studies (46%) explicitly measured habitat alteration, and 31% used visual estimates of grain size or subjectively judged ‘habitat quality’ from protocols ill-suited for the purpose. Although the goal of all 26 projects was to increase habitat heterogeneity, 31% of the studies either sampled only riffles or did not specify the habitats sampled. One-third of the studies (35%) used reference ecosystems to define target conditions. After 20 years of stream restoration evaluation, more work remains for the restoration community to identify appropriate measures of success and to coordinate monitoring so that evaluations are at a scale capable of detecting ecosystem change.

scholarly journals Occurrence of Omura’s whale, Balaenoptera omurai (Cetacea: Balaenopteridae), in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean based on Passive Acoustic Monitoring

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio C Moreira ◽  
Marcelo Weksler ◽  
Renata S Sousa-Lima ◽  
Marcia Maia ◽  
Alexey Sukhovich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Mid Atlantic Ridge ◽  
Vocal Activity ◽  
Passive Acoustic ◽  
Warm Temperate ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
Indian And Atlantic Oceans

Abstract The current known distribution of Omura’s whale includes the tropical and warm temperate waters of the western Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. Evidence of their presence in the Atlantic Ocean is based on beach cast specimens found on the coasts of Mauritania (North Atlantic) and Northeastern Brazil (South Atlantic). The present study characterizes the occurrence of this species in the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago (SPSPA), on the mid-Atlantic ridge between South America and Africa, based on autonomous recording systems. Acoustic signals were similar, but not identical, to B. omurai vocalizations recorded off the coast of Madagascar. Although these signals were recorded for only 11 months, there are peaks in vocal activity between May and June in the vicinities of SPSPA, suggesting either a shift in distribution within the Atlantic equatorial waters or seasonality in the species’ vocal behavior in this region. The first acoustic records of Omura’s whales in the Equatorial Atlantic suggest that these animals may also use deep-water habitats, in addition to the shallow-water habitat use observed in other regions.

scholarly journals NERITIDAE (GASTROPODA, NERITIMORPHA) FROM THE MALACOLOGICAL COLLECTION PROF. HENRY RAMOS MATTHEWS OF THE UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO CEARÁ, BRAZIL

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Cristiane Xerez Barroso ◽  
Cristina de Almeida Rocha-Barreira ◽  
Helena Matthews-Cascon
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
The Family ◽  
Brazilian Province ◽  
Scientific Collections ◽  
Occurrence Records

The basic information obtained from scientific collections help us to understanding of Earth’s diverse biota and its biological processes. The Malacological Collection Prof. Henry Ramos Matthews (CMPHRM) of the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Brazil, is a reference about the biodiversity, mainly marine, of northeastern Brazil. In this collection, the gastropod molluscs of the family Neritidae were among the most representative in number of lots. Since an accurate geographical distribution knowledge is one of the fundamental factors to the study of biodiversity, the present study aimed to describe the composition and spatially analyse the neritids deposited in the CMPHRM/UFC. There is a total of 314 lots of the Neritidae deposited at CMPHRM, belonging to eight species (Nerita chamaeleon, Nerita chlorostoma, Nerita fulgurans, Nerita tessellata, Neritina virginea, Neritina meleagris, Neritina zebra, and Smaragdia viridis). The Malacological Collection Prof. Henry Ramos Matthews of the Universidade Federal do Ceará has representatives of all species of Neritidae recorded in the Brazilian Province, which are important for confirming previous records or establishing new occurrence records. Keywords: Neritina, Nerita, Smaragdia, Brazilian Province

scholarly journals Global diversity of microbial communities in marine sediment

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (44) ◽  
pp. 27587-27597
Author(s):  
Tatsuhiko Hoshino ◽  
Hideyuki Doi ◽  
Go-Ichiro Uramoto ◽  
Lars Wörmer ◽  
Rishi R. Adhikari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Sediment ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Organic Carbon Concentration ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Species Area ◽  
Globally Distributed

Microbial life in marine sediment contributes substantially to global biomass and is a crucial component of the Earth system. Subseafloor sediment includes both aerobic and anaerobic microbial ecosystems, which persist on very low fluxes of bioavailable energy over geologic time. However, the taxonomic diversity of the marine sedimentary microbial biome and the spatial distribution of that diversity have been poorly constrained on a global scale. We investigated 299 globally distributed sediment core samples from 40 different sites at depths of 0.1 to 678 m below the seafloor. We obtained ∼47 million 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences using consistent clean subsampling and experimental procedures, which enabled accurate and unbiased comparison of all samples. Statistical analysis reveals significant correlations between taxonomic composition, sedimentary organic carbon concentration, and presence or absence of dissolved oxygen. Extrapolation with two fitted species–area relationship models indicates taxonomic richness in marine sediment to be 7.85 × 103to 6.10 × 105and 3.28 × 104to 2.46 × 106amplicon sequence variants for Archaea and Bacteria, respectively. This richness is comparable to the richness in topsoil and the richness in seawater, indicating that Bacteria are more diverse than Archaea in Earth’s global biosphere.

scholarly journals Effects of tourist visitation and supplementary feeding on fish assemblage composition on a tropical reef in the Southwestern Atlantic

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Di Iulio Ilarri ◽  
Allan Tainá de Souza ◽  
Paulo Roberto de Medeiros ◽  
Renato Grotta Grempel ◽  
Ierecê Maria de Lucena Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Fish Assemblage ◽  
Trophic Structure ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Southwestern Atlantic ◽  
Tropical Reef ◽  
The Tropics

The effects of tourist visitation and food provisioning on fish assemblages were assessed by visual censuses (stationary technique) carried out in a tropical reef in Northeastern Brazil. Comparisons of species abundance, richness, equitability, and trophic structure in the presence (PT) and absence (AT) of tourists suggest that tourist visitation and supplementary food influenced the structure of the fish assemblage, as follows: (a) diversity, equitability and species richness were significantly higher on the AT period, while the abundance of a particular species was significantly higher during PT; (b) trophic structure differed between the AT and PT periods, omnivores being more abundant during the latter period, while mobile invertivores, piscivores, roving herbivores and territorial herbivores were significantly more abundant on AT. Reef tourism is increasingly being regarded as an alternative to generate income for human coastal communities in the tropics. Therefore, closer examination of the consequences of the various components of this activity to reef system is a necessary step to assist conservation and management initiatives.

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