Epibionts on Caribbean mangrove roots from Morrocoy National Park and La Restinga Lagoon National Park, Venezuela
Citation
Caribbean OBIS Node: Epibionts on Caribbean mangrove roots from Morrocoy National Park and La Restinga Lagoon National Park, Venezuela https://doi.org/10.15468/tnodaf accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-13.Description
Epibionts on Caribbean mangroves from two marine reserves separated by 436 km along the Venezuelan coast were registered: Morrocoy National Park (MNP), western Venezuela; and La Restinga National Park (LRNP), eastern Venezuela. In both parks, 60 sites were sampled during 2 years. Presence of 143 species from 10 Phylum are registered, as well as the geographic coordinates and local environmental variables of each occurrence. From all Phylum, sponges (Porifera) and tunicates (Chordata) were the richness groups.Sampling Description
Study Extent
Mangroves from Morrocoy National Park, and La Restinga National ParkSampling
Sampling was non-destructive and species present at each root were identified in situ using a photographic identification guide.Quality Control
The photographic identification guide was previously prepared using local inventories and taxonomist expertise.Method steps
- Sampling was non-destructive and species present at each root were identified in situ using a photographic identification guide previously prepared using local inventories. To estimate the relative abundance of each species per sample unit, digital underwater photographs were taken from the entire root. Each root was photographed using 10 cm intervals covering the entire length and sides of the root, by means of a vertically fixed measuring tape as reference. These photographs were used to estimate cover of all sesile species present, applying the point intercept technique. All images were scaled and calibrated using the tick marks of a measuring tape to adequately estimate the length of the area photographed. Over each image, a digital gridded quadrat was overlapped with intersections being separated by 1 cm on x- and y- axes. All this digital work, including the quantification of points intercepting a particular organism in the photograph, was done in Coral Point Counter v3.6. With the metric references in each picture given, the area described in an image that partially appears in another was not quantified twice. Data originated from this procedure were loaded into a species × sample matrix, where each cell represented the number of points that a given species had in a specific sample.
Additional info
Marine, harvested by OBISTaxonomic Coverages
Invertebrates and algae
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Caulerpa verticillatarank: species
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Vermetidaerank: family
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Acanthophora spiciferarank: species
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Exaiptasia pallidarank: species
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Caulerpa sertularioidesrank: species
Geographic Coverages
Morrocoy National Park (MNP), western Venezuela.
La Restinga National Park (LRNP), eastern Venezuela.
Coordinates: 10°3'18''N and 11°31'22.8''N Latitude; 68°46'26.4''W and 62°29'24''W Longitude.
Bibliographic Citations
- Guerra-Castro, E. J., Conde, J. E. & Cruz-Motta, J. J. (2016) Scales of spatial variation in tropical benthic assemblages and their ecological relevance: epibionts on Caribbean mangrove roots as a model system. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 548, 97-110. - http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v548/p97-110/
Contacts
Edlin Guerra-Castrooriginator
position: Researcher
Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas
VE
email: edlinguerra@gmail.com
Edlin Guerra-Castro
metadata author
position: Researcher
Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas
VE
email: edlinguerra@gmail.com
Edlin Guerra-Castro
administrative point of contact
position: Researcher
Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas
VE
email: edlinguerra@gmail.com