Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities.

To retain recreational uses and shoreline protection, a large proportion of ocean beaches have been, and continue to be, nourished. Adding sand from subtidal and terrestrial sources to nourish beaches rarely re-creates the original sediment structure of the beach. Numerous studies have demonstrated that meiofaunal communities are altered by changes in sediment composition in low-energy substrates, therefore, we have explored whether beach nourishment has affected exposed, ocean beach meiofaunal communities.

The curious and neglected soft-bodied meiofauna: Rouphozoa (Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes).

Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes form a clade called Rouphozoa. Representatives of both taxa are main components of meiofaunal communities, but their role in the trophic ecology of marine and freshwater communities is not sufficiently studied. Traditional collection methods for meiofauna are optimized for Ecdysozoa, and include the use of fixatives or flotation techniques that are unsuitable for the preservation and identification of soft-bodied meiofauna.

Structure of the male copulatory apparatus in (Platyhelminthes, Kalyptorhynchia).

Gnathorhynchidae is a diverse taxon of predatory eukalyptorhynch flatworms characterized by an armed proboscis. Their present taxonomy is not concordant with what we know of their phylogeny. Further progress in this area is hindered by a lack of information concerning their morphology.

Evolution and Functional Morphology of the Proboscis in Kalyptorhynchia (Platyhelminthes).

Predatory flatworms belonging to the taxon Kalyptorhynchia are characterized by an anterior muscular proboscis that they use to seize prey. In many cases, the proboscis is armed with hooks, derived either from the extracellular matrix that surrounds the muscles or from intracellular deposits in the epithelium covering the proboscis. Glands associated with the proboscis reportedly are venomous; however, there are few direct tests of this hypothesis.

Diagnostic PCR can be used to illuminate meiofaunal diets and trophic relationships.

Analysis of the meiofaunal food web is hampered because few prey have features that persist long enough in a predator's digestive tract to allow identification to species. Hence, at least for platyhelminth predators, direct observations of prey preference are almost nonexistent, and where they occur, prey identification is often limited to phylum. Studies using an approach are rare because they are extremely time-consuming and are subject to the criticism that predators removed from their natural environment may exhibit altered behaviors.

Cicerina debrae n. sp. (Platyhelminthes: Kalyptorhynchia, Cicerinidae) from the Southern Atlantic Coast, USA.

Cicerina debrae is described as a new species of kalyptorhynch flatworm belonging to the Cicerinidae. This species was found in surface sediment from the lower half of the beach at two sites in North Carolina and is identical to museum material previously collected from North Carolina and from the Atlantic coast of Florida. C.

, . (Turbellaria, Kalyptorhynchia) from the Coast of North Carolina, USA.

As with other high-energy beaches, those of North Carolina harbor a diverse fauna of kalyptorhynch turbellarians, and most appear to be new to science. Here, we describe , a new kalyptorhynch turbellarian of the Karkinorhynchidae, from 3 high-energy beach sites in North Carolina. We also report an apparent range extension for Brunet, 1967.