Open AccessEchinoderm diversity of a tropical estuary in the largest river basin of the Costa Rican Pacific, Eastern Tropical Pacific
Author(s) -
Juan Carlos AzofeifaSolano,
Sebastián Mena,
Juan José Alvarado,
José Leonardo Chacón-Monge,
Tayler M. Clarke,
Juliana Herrera-Correal,
Ingo S. Wehrtmann
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
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Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.276
H-Index - 22
ISSN - 1809-127X
DOI - 10.15560/13.3.2113
Subject(s) - estuary , mangrove , echinoderm , oceanography , coral reef , geography , biodiversity , wetland , fishery , tropical eastern pacific , brackish water , ecology , geology , biology , pacific ocean , salinity
Echinoderms within the Eastern Tropical Pacific have mainly been studied in association with coral reefs. Investigations on echinoderms associated with soft-bottoms and estuaries are still scarce. The present study reports on the echinoderm species inhabiting the soft-bottom sediments of shallow-brackish waters adjacent to the largest river basin along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Terraba-Sierpe wetland. Nine species were recorded, three of them new records for Costa Rica: Luidia columbia , L . latiradiata, and L . superba. The most common species were L . columbia , Astropecten armatus , A . regalis, and L . latiradiata . This contributes towards current knowledge on the biodiversity of Terraba-Sierpe wetland and should be considered as a baseline upon which to monitor the effects of future impacts on this important mangrove area.
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