Assessing sandy beach macrofaunal assemblages across geographically diverse morphodynamic environments.

While the physical characteristics of sandy beaches play a significant role in shaping the macrofaunal community features through morphodynamics, regional environmental factors may also account for deviations from the expected patterns. Here, we assess the concurrent effects of local morphodynamic factors and regional variables, such as sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, and chlorophyll-a (chl-a), on species richness and abundance of intertidal macrofaunal assemblages in four sandy beaches located along the estuarine gradient generated by the Río de la Plata (RdlP) in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Species richness was higher in dissipative beaches compared to intermediate ones, consistent with the predictions of the Swash Exclusion Hypothesis.

Mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequencing confirms the presence of the invasive sea anemone (Verrill, 1869) (Cnidaria: Actiniaria) in Argentina.

Background: is one of the most widespread sea anemone species worldwide. Although this species has been reported a few times on the Argentine coast since 2004, its identification has traditionally been based on external morphological characteristics, and in most cases no voucher specimens are available to support previous records.

Methods: In this study, we obtained DNA sequences of two mitochondrial markers (12S and 16S) and two nuclear markers (18S and 28S) from specimens of collected in two locations on the Argentine coast separated by almost 800 km.

Disentangling patterns in population parameters of the wedge clam Donax hanleyanus from sandy beaches of Argentina: The role of environmental variability.

The concurrent role of morphodynamics and estuarine gradients in shaping population patterns in sandy beach macrofauna has not been adequately assessed. Here, we analyze the effects of beach morphodynamics, salinity, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll-a (chl-a) on life-history traits of the wedge clam Donax hanleyanus in four sandy beaches located along the estuarine gradient generated by the Río de la Plata (RdlP, Argentina) over a 13-month period. A general linear model showed that chl-a and salinity were positively correlated with the abundance of D.