Description of Pseudosteineria longisetis sp. n. from northeastern Brazil with a review of the genus Pseudosteineria Wieser, 1956 (Nematoda: Xyalidae).

A new free-living marine nematode of the family Xyalidae is described from Armação Beach, northeastern Brazil, and the genus Pseudosteineria is reviewed. Pseudosteineria longisetis sp. n.

Differential responses of emergent intertidal coral reef fauna to a large-scale El-Niño southern oscillation event: sponge and coral resilience.

There is a paucity of information on the impacts of the 1997-8 El Niño event and subsequent climatic episodes on emergent intertidal coral reef assemblages. Given the environmental variability intertidal reefs experience, such reefs may potentially be more resilient to climatic events and provide important insights into the adaptation of reef fauna to future ocean warming. Here we report the results of a 17-year (1995-2011) biodiversity survey of four emergent coral reef ecosystems in Bahia, Brazil, to assess the impact of a major El Niño event on the reef fauna, and determine any subsequent recovery.

Tolerance of sponge assemblages to temperature anomalies: resilience and proliferation of sponges following the 1997-8 El-Niño southern oscillation.

Coral reefs across the world are under threat from a range of stressors, and while there has been considerable focus on the impacts of these stressors on corals, far less is known about their effect on other reef organisms. The 1997-8 El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) had notable and severe impacts on coral reefs worldwide, but not all reef organisms were negatively impacted by this large-scale event. Here we describe how the sponge fauna at Bahia, Brazil was influenced by the 1997-8 ENSO event.

Severe impact and subsequent recovery of a coral assemblage following the 1997-8 El Niño event: a 17-year study from Bahia, Brazil.

The coral reefs of northern Bahia evolved in isolation from other Atlantic systems and under conditions of high environmental stress, particularly high turbidity. We have monitored the scleractinian assemblage of four shallow bank reefs (Praia do Forte, Itacimirim, Guarajuba and Abai) annually for 17 years since 1995, collecting quantitative data on diversity and density of coral colonies. As the sampling period included the 1997-8 El Niño event, the most severe on record, for the first time these results allow a quantitative assessment of the long-term impact of this major environmental stressor on such a coral assemblage.

Shallow-water Campanulariidae (Hydrozoa, Leptothecatae) from northern Bahía, Brazil.

This study provides the first semi-quantititative account of the benthic campanulariid hydroids from Northern Bahia (Brazil), down to a depth of 60 m, based largely on collections obtained since 1992. Colonies were collected from six habitats along the coast of Salvador City, Todos os Santos Bay, Itaparica Island and at the northernmost part of the coast of the State of Bahia. From the 982 colonies examined, nine species were recorded: Campanularia hincksii, Clytia gracilis, C.

Anthoathecatae and Leptothecatae hydroids from Costa Rica (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa).

This paper is the first taxonomic account of the hydroid orders Anthoathecatae and Leptothecatae from the Caribbean and Pacific coast of Costa Rica. All specimens are currently stored at the reference collection of the Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica. Sixteen hydroid species are recorded: Eudendrium carneum, Pennaria disticha, Acryptolaria longitheca, Plumularia floridana, Halopteris polymorpha, Aglaophenia dubia, Aglaophenia latecarinata, Lytocarpia tridentata, Macrorhynchia phillipina, Macrorhynchia sp.