Meiofauna and macrofauna communities and several sediment characteristics were compared between a slope situated far from the coast (Goban Spur) and two transects across the Iberian Margin with steep slopes and close to the shore. The northern Galician transect (off La Coruña) was situated in an area subjected to wind-induced upwelling events. The western Galician transect was also subjected to...

Responses of benthic macrofauna and epibenthic predators / sediment disturbers to controlled 22 2 density (0, 12, 120, 600 and 1200 individuals m ) and patch size (0.25, 1.0 and 9.0 m ) manipulations of the venerid bivalve Austrovenus stutchburyi (Gray) were examined on an 22 intertidal sandflat. Bivalve density manipulations greater than 600 m had a mixed influence on macrofauna colonisation; ...

World food security is under challenge to a great extent due to effects of climate change, continued population growth and resource-depleting practices on agriculture (IAASTD, 2009). Presently poor farmers use either organic manure or inorganic fertilizers (Mando et al., 2005; Topoliantz et al., 2005) for maintaining soil fertility as they cannot afford to apply fertilizers as a nutrient source...

Pelagic forms of the brown algae (Phaeophyceae) Sargassum spp. and their conspicuous rafts are defining characteristics of the Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic. Given rising temperatures and acidity in the surface ocean, we hypothesized that macrofauna associated with Sargassum in the Sargasso Sea have changed with respect to species composition, diversity, evenness, and sessile epibi...

OBJECTIVES The marine benthic nitrogen cycle is affected by both the presence and activity of macrofauna and the diversity of N-cycling microbes. However, integrated research simultaneously investigating macrofauna, microbes and N-cycling is lacking. We investigated spatio-temporal patterns in microbial community composition and diversity, macrofaunal abundance and their sediment reworking acti...

We investigated the food web structure of the Salses-Leucate Lagoon (northwestern Mediterranean) through δ13C and δ15N analysis of its benthic macrofauna and potential food sources. This lagoon was heavily human-modified during the 1970s, allowing permanent exchange with the open sea and an increase in salinity from that time. As a result, it exhibits a much less marked salinity gradient than t...

Even with the in-depth implementation of forestry ecological projects, such as restoring farmland to forest (grass) in loess area northern Shaanxi, characteristics soil macrofauna communities and their coupling relationship environmental factors after vegetation restoration study are yet obscure. However, community great significance for evaluating effectiveness area. Therefore, aims reveal rel...

Soil fauna communities are major drivers of many forest ecosystem processes. Tree species diversity and composition shape soil communities, but their relationships poorly understood, notably whether or not depends on tree diversity. Here, we characterized macrofauna from forests composed either one three species, located in four different climate zones growing types. Using multivariate analysis...

A large variety of aquatic animals was found to emit the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide when nitrate was present in the environment. The emission was ascribed to denitrification by ingested bacteria in the anoxic animal gut, and the exceptionally high N(2)O-to-N(2) production ratio suggested delayed induction of the last step of denitrification. Filter- and deposit-feeding animal species s...