Review of the inquilinous fauna associated with insect galls in Brazilian restingas

Several records of associated fauna, including parasitoids, inquilines, predators, and successors, have been reported by insect gall inventories in Brazilian restingas. Although most guilds are well established, inquilines have frequently been misinterpreted. In this paper, the inquilinous fauna of insect galls is revised based on five criteria: food habit; coexistence with the inducer; modification of gall tissues or production of new tissues; phylogenetic relationship with the inducer; and mobility. Gall inventories dated from 1988 to 2019 were examined, totaling 16 publications, eight of them with inquiline records. This guild was reported in 53 gall morphotypes in 44 plant species and four morphospecies distributed among 36 genera of 24 host families for a total of 65 records. Most inquilines were repositioned into the cecidophage guild and others into the kleptoparasite guild, resulting in a large reduction in the frequency of inquilines (from 65 to five records), and in first reports of cecidophages and kleptoparasites, with 46 and 13 records, respectively. Cecidophage was the most diverse guild with insects of five orders (Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, and Thysanoptera) while kleptoparasites were represented only by two orders (Diptera and Hymenoptera) and inquiline solely by Hymenoptera. Other results indicate that Leptothorax sp. (Formicidae) could be a successor and not an inquiline.

effect of short-term meteorological disturbances on the submerged aquatic vegetation and associated fauna in the Patos Lagoon estuary, southern Brazil

Occluded fronts are naturally cyclogenic areas that have been intensified by global warming. Studies evaluating the effects of occluded fronts in the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and its associated fauna in shallow estuarine areas may provide insights on the impacts of climate change-induced extreme weather events on coastal ecosystems functioning. The present dataset describes data on benthic fauna and flora in the Patos Lagoon Estuary (PLE), in southern Brazil, seasonally obtained during intense occluded fronts. Using a hierarchical sample design, based on Beyond BACI protocols (Before/After and Control/Impact), fauna and flora were sampled before and after four occluded fronts passage throughout 2019.Three habitats were sampled: SAV Meadow, SAV Edge and adjacent Sandflat. A total of 432 macrozoobenthic samples (216 samples for stratum); 216 samples for bellow and aboveground biomass, vegetation coverage, canopy height and marine macrophytes morphology; 144 samples by sedimentology and organic matter; 72 water column depth measurements; and 8 temperature and salinity measurements were collected during the study period. The data is available at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), in Darwin Core standard format (DwC), organized according to the OBIS-ENV-DATA model, with CC-BY-NC-4-0 license for use. The present dataset adds to the comprehension of the temporal variability of estuarine benthic communities in subtropical systems, and how short-term meteorological process can affect zoo and fitobenthic communities in the context of climate changes.

First record of Cercyon (s. str.) inquinatus Wollaston, 1854 from Turkey with notes about this problematic species (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Sphaeridiinae: Megasternini)

Cercyon (s. str.) inquinatus Wollaston, 1854 is recorded for the first time from Turkey. It was found in the darkest part of a vast cave occupied by an underground river and pools. The specimens were collected, in or near water, without being sure that they are aquatic and subterranean. Bright and black or blackish body, pronotum with a slight partial and median groove, rather convex interstries, male genitalia are quite characteristic. The habitat and sampling methods are described. The difficulty of identifying the insect with existing keys is exposed and analyzed. Photos of Turkish specimen and a list of the associated fauna are provided.

A Deep-Sea Sponge Loop? Sponges Transfer Dissolved and Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen to Associated Fauna

Cold-water coral reefs and sponge grounds are deep-sea biological hotspots, equivalent to shallow-water tropical coral reefs. In tropical ecosystems, biodiversity and productivity are maintained through efficient recycling pathways, such as the sponge loop. In this pathway, encrusting sponges recycle dissolved organic matter (DOM) into particulate detritus. Subsequently, the sponge-produced detritus serves as a food source for other organisms on the reef. Alternatively, the DOM stored in massive sponges was recently hypothesized to be transferred to higher trophic levels through predation of these sponges, instead of detritus production. However, for deep-sea sponges, the existence of all prerequisite, consecutive steps of the sponge loop have not yet been established. Here, we tested whether cold-water deep-sea sponges, similar to their tropical shallow-water counterparts, take up DOM and transfer assimilated DOM to associated fauna via either detritus production or predation. We traced the fate of 13carbon (C)- and 15nitrogen (N)-enriched DOM and particulate organic matter (POM) in time using a pulse-chase approach. During the 24-h pulse, the uptake of 13C/15N-enriched DOM and POM by two deep-sea sponge species, the massive species Geodia barretti and the encrusting species Hymedesmia sp., was assessed. During the subsequent 9-day chase in label-free seawater, we investigated the transfer of the consumed food by sponges into brittle stars via two possible scenarios: (1) the production and subsequent consumption of detrital waste or (2) direct feeding on sponge tissue. We found that particulate detritus released by both sponge species contained C from the previously consumed tracer DOM and POM, and, after 9-day exposure to the labeled sponges and detritus, enrichment of 13C and 15N was also detected in the tissue of the brittle stars. These results therefore provide the first evidence of all consecutive steps of a sponge loop pathway via deep-sea sponges. We cannot distinguish at present whether the deep-sea sponge loop is acting through a detrital or predatory pathway, but conclude that both scenarios are feasible. We conclude that sponges could play an important role in the recycling of DOM in the many deep-sea ecosystems where they are abundant, although in situ measurements are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Sponge-dwelling fauna: a review of known species from the Northwest Tropical Atlantic coral reefs

Within tropical shallow-water coral reefs, marine sponges provide microhabitats for a wide range of fauna. Although there have been numerous studies and reports of symbiotic relationships amongst sponges and their associated fauna, those pieces of information are isolated and disconnected. For this reason, based on the available literature, we compiled a species-interaction dataset of coral reef marine sponge-associated fauna known to date. We introduce a dataset that includes 67 literature items that report 101 species of sponge hosts clustered in 12 Orders having a host/guest interaction with 284 guest species from six Phyla present in the Northwestern Tropical Atlantic coral reefs. This dataset consists of two types of information: 1. Machine-readable data and 2. Human-readable data. These two types of coding improve the scope of the dataset and facilitate the link between machine platforms and human-friendly displays. We also created an interactive visualisation of the species-interactions dataset and of a dynamic Chord Diagram of the host-guest species connections to generate a user-friendly link between the user and the dataset.

Effects of habitat structure on the mollusc assemblage in Mussismilia corals: evaluation of the influence of different coral growth morphology

Habitat structure increases richness and abundance of species in many environments by providing easy access to resources and refuge from predators. In coral reefs, corals are habitat for many organisms and differences in their morphologies may act as variation in habitat structure for associated fauna. In the present study, we investigate whether there are differences in the richness and abundance of molluscs associated with three species of Mussismilia corals exhibiting different growth morphologies, in two different reef areas of the Bahia state. Mussismilia harttii has a meandroid pattern, M. hispida is a massive coral, M. braziliensis also has a massive growth pattern with crevices at the corallum base. Coral characteristics were measured in the laboratory. Significant differences were identified for richness among coral species – higher values were reported in colonies of M. harttii and no significant statistical differences were observed between M. braziliensis and M. hispida. Considering the density of associated molluscs, the same pattern was found. The results are in accordance with previous studies and indicate the importance of M. harttii as a key habitat to maintain a richer and more abundant associated fauna. The internal volume of interpolypal space is an important factor influencing the richness and density of associated species.