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Plankton‐Derived Resting Stages in Marine Coastal Sediments along the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, South‐Eastern Italy)
Author(s) -
Rubino Fernando,
Moscatello Salvatore,
Saracino Orestina D.,
Fanelli Giovanni,
Belmonte Genuario,
Boero Ferdinando
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
marine ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.668
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1439-0485
pISSN - 0173-9565
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2002.tb00031.x
Subject(s) - peninsula , plankton , oceanography , abundance (ecology) , water column , species richness , environmental science , ecology , geology , biology
. An oceanographic survey was carried out along the Salento Peninsula in March 2000. Resting stages of plankton were searched for in coastal sediments to study the microplankton composition in addition to the classical analysis of active stages in the water column. A total of 215 taxa were recognised, 149 as active stages in the water column and 74 as resting stages in the sediments. Cysts were widely distributed and at Brindisi and Alimini their abundance was higher than elsewhere. A general trend was observed with resting stage abundance, species richness and diversity in the sediments: all three decreased with distance from the coast. The integrated water/sediments approach used in this study allowed us to collect 37 species (mainly as resting stages) new for the studied area.