Structurally stable but functionally disrupted marine microbial communities under a future climate change scenario: Potential importance for nitrous oxide emissions.

The blue mussel Mytilus edulis is a widespread and abundant bivalve species along the North Sea with high economic and ecological importance as an engineer species. The shell of mussels is intensively colonized by microbial organisms that can produce significant quantities of nitrous oxide (NO), a potent greenhouse gas. To characterize the impacts of climate change on the composition, structure and functioning of microbial biofilms on the shell surface of M.

Colonization of macroalgal deposits by estuarine nematodes through air and potential for rafting inside algal structures.

Dispersal is an important life-history trait. In marine meiofauna, and particularly in nematodes, dispersal is generally considered to be mainly passive, i.e.

Living apart-together: Microhabitat differentiation of cryptic nematode species in a saltmarsh habitat.

Coexistence of highly similar species is at odds with ecological theory of competition; coexistence, then, requires stabilizing mechanisms such as differences in ecological niche. In the bacterivore nematode Litoditis marina species complex, which occurs associated with macro-algae, four cryptic lineages (Pm I-IV) co-occur in the field along the south-western coast and estuaries of The Netherlands. Here we investigate the temporal and/or spatial niche differentiation in their natural environment using a qPCR-based detection and relative quantification method.

Daily Temperature Fluctuations Alter Interactions between Closely Related Species of Marine Nematodes.

In addition to an increase in mean temperature, climate change models predict decreasing amplitudes of daily temperature fluctuations. In temperate regions, where daily and seasonal fluctuations are prominent, such decreases in daily temperature fluctuations can have a pronounced effect on the fitness of species and on the outcome of species interactions. In this study, the effect of a temperature regime with daily fluctuations versus a constant temperature on the fitness and interspecific interactions of three cryptic species of the marine nematode species complex of Litoditis marina (Pm I, Pm III and Pm IV) were investigated.

Differences in time until dispersal between cryptic species of a marine nematode species complex.

Co-occurrence of closely related species may be achieved in environments with fluctuating dynamics, where competitively inferior species can avoid competition through dispersal. Here we present an experiment in which we compared active dispersal abilities (time until first dispersal, number and gender of dispersive adults, and nematode densities at time of dispersal) in Litoditis marina, a common bacterivorous nematode species complex comprising four often co-occurring cryptic species, Pm I, II, III, and IV, as a function of salinity and food distribution. The experiment was conducted in microcosms consisting of an inoculation plate, connection tube, and dispersal plate.