Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter

Marco Curini-Galletti; Tom Artois; Valentina Delogu; Willem H. De Smet; Diego Fontaneto; Ulf Jondelius; Francesca Leasi; Alejandro Martinez Garcia; Inga Meyer-Wachsmuth; Karin Sara Nilsson; Paolo Tongiorgi; Katrine Worsaae; M. Antonio Todaro

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033801

Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter

Marco Curini-Galletti, Tom Artois, Valentina Delogu, Willem H. De Smet, Diego Fontaneto, Ulf Jondelius, Francesca Leasi, Alejandro Martinez Garcia, Inga Meyer-Wachsmuth, Karin Sara Nilsson, Paolo Tongiorgi, Katrine Worsaae, M. Antonio Todaro

Marine Biology

92 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Background: Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups. Methodology/Principal Findings: As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat. Conclusion/Significance: Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.

Original language	English
Article number	e33801
Journal	P L o S One
Volume	7
Issue number	3
Number of pages	13
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033801
Publication status	Published - 23 Mar 2012

Keywords

Animals
Body Size
Invertebrates

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1371/journal.pone.0033801Licence: CC BY

Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofaunaFinal published version, 277 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Curini-Galletti, M., Artois, T., Delogu, V., De Smet, W. H., Fontaneto, D., Jondelius, U., Leasi, F., Martinez Garcia, A., Meyer-Wachsmuth, I., Nilsson, K. S., Tongiorgi, P., Worsaae, K., & Todaro, M. A. (2012). Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter. P L o S One, 7(3), Article e33801. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033801

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author = "Marco Curini-Galletti and Tom Artois and Valentina Delogu and {De Smet}, {Willem H.} and Diego Fontaneto and Ulf Jondelius and Francesca Leasi and {Martinez Garcia}, Alejandro and Inga Meyer-Wachsmuth and Nilsson, {Karin Sara} and Paolo Tongiorgi and Katrine Worsaae and Todaro, {M. Antonio}",

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T2 - dispersal ability and body size matter

AU - Curini-Galletti, Marco

AU - Artois, Tom

AU - Delogu, Valentina

AU - De Smet, Willem H.

AU - Fontaneto, Diego

AU - Jondelius, Ulf

AU - Leasi, Francesca

AU - Martinez Garcia, Alejandro

AU - Meyer-Wachsmuth, Inga

AU - Nilsson, Karin Sara

AU - Tongiorgi, Paolo

AU - Worsaae, Katrine

AU - Todaro, M. Antonio

N1 - e33801

PY - 2012/3/23

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N2 - Background: Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups. Methodology/Principal Findings: As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat. Conclusion/Significance: Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.

AB - Background: Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups. Methodology/Principal Findings: As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat. Conclusion/Significance: Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.

KW - Animals

KW - Body Size

KW - Invertebrates

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0033801

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0033801

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 22457790

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 7

JO - P L o S One

JF - P L o S One

IS - 3

M1 - e33801

ER -

Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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