In order to characterize the zooplankton community at the Vitória Bay estuarine system (Southeastern Brazil), samples were collected in 10 sampling stations during a three-year study (1998-2000), every three months. A total of 64 taxa were identified. Copepoda contributed with the highest species number (49) in the community, especially with Acartia lilljeborgi, Acartia tonsa, Paracalanus parvu...

Marine ecosystems are reported to be contaminated by microplastics (MPs) (< 5 mm); however, the ecological mechanisms involved in ingestion of debris marine organisms relatively unknown. By developing and optimising an appropriate protocol gut digestion for fish species, this study explores a tropical estuarine environment unriddle processes responsible different rates plastic debris. A total 8...

In in vitro estuarine water and sediment chambers, the survival of Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli was determined by plate counting and direct counting techniques. V. cholerae strains included environmental, clinical, and serotype O1 and non-O1 isolates, whereas E. coli strains included ATCC 25922 and a freshly cultured human isolate. Recovery of V. cholerae varied significantly with incub...

Large-bodied, top-predators are often highly mobile, with the potential to provide important linkages between spatially distinct food webs. What biological factors contribute to variation in cross-ecosystem movements, however, have rarely been examined. Here, we investigated how ontogeny (body size), sex and individual-level behaviour impacts intrapopulation variation in cross-ecosystem foragin...

A six-point primary sere developed on sand dunes and a four-point secondary sere developed on old fields were studied to examine the regulation of nitrification in succession. Soils from sites along the seres were incubated in funnel-microlysimeters leached weekly with NH4CI and other nutrient solutions. Nitrate output in soils from the five youngest sites along the primary sere was rapidly sti...

A cross-transplant experiment between estuarine water and seawater was conducted to examine the response of bacterial metabolic activity to riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) input under virus-rich and virus-free conditions, as well as to exogenous viruses. Riverine DOC input increased bacterial production significantly, but not bacterial respiration (BR) because of its high lability. The ...