BIODIVERSITY OF MARINE NEMATODES IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN COAST.

V. VENEKEY; CATALINA PASTOR DE WARD; VIRGINIA LO RUSSO; VERÔNICA FONSÊCA-GENEVOIS; PAULO J.P. SANTOS

Ghent, Belgium, July 11-16, 2010.

Conferencia; 14th International Meiofauna Conference FourtIMCO; 2010

Rijsk Universitat, Ghent, Belgium

"BIODIVERSITY OF MARINE NEMATODES IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN COAST" Virág Venekey(1), Catalina Pastor de Ward(2), Virginia Lo Russo(2),Verônica Fonsêca-Genevois( 3), Paulo J.P. Santos (3,4) 1- Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil, email: virag_venekey@yahoo.com.br 2-Centro Nacional Patagónico, Puerto Madryn, Argentina, email: catalinapastor@gmail.com 3,4 Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, email:meiofaunabrasil@hotmail.com This study analyses the biodiversity of marine nematodes in the South American coast taking into account country (Brazil and Argentina), habitat (rocky shore, estuary and sandy beach) and latitudinal variations (0-15N, 0-15S, 15-30S, 30-45S, 45-60S). The genus and species records of nematodes from the Brazilian and Argentinean coast available until December 2009 in PhD theses, MSc dissertations, undergraduate papers and other manuscripts were used to construct a uniform data set with presence/absence data as the basis for comparisons. As result it was found that by the end of 2009 a total of 308 genera of nematodes had been recorded for marine environments on the South American coast. The nematofauna composition in the environments is similar to other places sampled worldwide, with the families Chromadoridae and Xyalidae as the most representative. Comparing the habitats was determined that only estuary and sandy beaches significantly different in composition at genus level (ANOSIM, Global R=0,497, p=0.0001). Furthermore, no significant differences were found to latitudes (ANOSIM, Global R=0,195, p=0.001) and neither to the genera composition of Brazil compared to Argentina (ANOSIM, Global R=0,270, p=0.001). The Chi-square test did not detect differences between the frequency of habitats in Brazil and Argentina (x2=3,95, p>0.05). The results above point out that the latitude does not affect the genera composition. In the South American coast only the habitat has influence on it. Support: CAPES, CNPq and CONICET. Key-words: marine nematodes, biodiversity, coastal environments.