The present study aimed at evaluating differences in rotifer distribution in three estuarine zones in an inverse estuary located in the Semiarid Region of Brazil. Zones were chosen based on their proximity to the ocean and river border as a means of reflecting a horizontal salinity gradient. High freshwater discharge during the rainy season was the major determinant of rotifer composition. On t...

The mangrove habitat exhibits many unique physical features, one of the most important of which is a salinity gradient. Photosynthetic rates, as measured by leaf stomatal conductance and leaf chlorophyll fluorescence induction, were tested as indicators of salinity stress in seedlings of the red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle, grown under five different salinity levels: 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 parts...

Even if many Vibrio spp. are endemic to coastal waters, their distribution in northern temperate and boreal waters is poorly studied. To identify environmental factors regulating Vibrio populations in a salinity gradient along the Swedish coastline, we combined Vibrio-specific quantitative competitive PCR with denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis-based genotyping. The total Vibrio abundance ...

Previous investigations of the salinity effects on the microbial community composition have largely been limited to dynamic estuaries and coastal solar salterns. In this study, the effects of salinity and mineralogy on microbial community composition was studied by using a 900-cm sediment core collected from a stable, inland hypersaline lake, Lake Chaka, on the Tibetan Plateau, north-western Ch...

In this study, we assessed the combined effect of Cd concentration and salinity, on Cd uptake and mortality rate of Littorina littorea, collected along a salinity and pollution gradient in the Western Scheldt estuary (The Netherlands). Animals kept at their field salinity levels were exposed to three Cd concentrations (i.e. 10, 40 and 320 microM), while animals kept in 10 microM of Cd were subj...

The need to assess the environmental status of marine and coastal waters according to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) encouraged the design of specific biotic indices to evaluate the response of benthic communities to human-induced changes in water quality. In the present study three of these indices, the traditional Shannon Wiener Index (H') and the more recently published AMBI (AZTI' M...

Environmental data collected along 92.5 o E between 2.7 o N and 12.77 o N during late winter show a permanent sound velocity maximum around 75 m and an intermediate minimum between 1350 m and 1750 m. The axis of the deep sound channel is noticed around 1700 m. The shallower axial depth (~1350 m) between 7.5 o N and 10.5 o N coincides with the cyclonic eddy. Within the sonic layer (SLD), Eastern...