Revista de Biología Tropical ISSN Impreso: 0034-7744 ISSN electrónico: 2215-2075

OAI: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/oai
Benthic macrofauna found in Sandy beaches from Osa Conservation Area, Puntarenas, Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
PDF (Español (España))
HTML (Español (España))

Keywords

Sand beach
vertical zonation
marine biodiversity
Punta Burica
human impacts.
Playa de arena
zonación vertical
biodiversidad marina
Punta Burica
impactos humanos.

How to Cite

Corrales-Ugalde, M., & Sibaja-Cordero, J. A. (2015). Benthic macrofauna found in Sandy beaches from Osa Conservation Area, Puntarenas, Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Revista De Biología Tropical, 63(S1), 273–285. https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v63i1.23107

Abstract

The diversity and species composition of the intertidal sandy beaches in the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica were studied by means of cores collected along perpendicular transects to the beaches. The numbers of strictly marine species varied between 5 to 13 taxa, representing an intermediate value compared to those previously reported for these environments in Costa Rica. The isopod Cirolana salvadorensis was the dominant species in the supralittoral zone, whereas polychaete worms belonging to the families Nereididae and Pisionidae dominated the low intertidal zone. Others organisms collected in the beaches were the crabs of the genus Uca, anomurans crabs (Emerita), sand dollars (Mellita longifissa) and several taxa of polychaete tubeworms, such as the Onuphidae, Spionidae, Magelonidae, and Glyceridae. The high faunal difference among the sites is possibly explained by their exposure to the wave energy, with fewer individuals in the more reflective beaches. In addition, human activities might also be responsible for the low infaunal diversity found in some of these beaches. This is the first effort to describe the benthonic fauna of beaches from this area.

 
https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v63i1.23107
PDF (Español (España))
HTML (Español (España))

References

Alongi, D. M. (1989). Ecology of tropical soft-bottom benthos: a review with emphasis on emerging concepts. Revista de Biología Tropical, 37, 85-100.

Alongi, D. M. (1990). The Ecology of Tropical Soft-Bottom Benthic Ecosystems. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review, 28, 381-496.

Brazeiro, A., Rozbaczylo, N., & Fariña, J. M. (1998). Distribución espacial de la macrofuana en una playa expuesta de Chile central: efectos de la morfología intermareal. Investigaciones Marinas, 26, 119-126.

Cortés, J., & Jiménez, C. E. (1996). Coastal marine environments of Parque Nacional Corcovado, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical, 44(3), 35-40.

Dean, H. K. (2004). Marine biodiversity of Costa Rica: Class Polychaeta (Annelida). Revista de Biología Tropical, 52(2), 131-181.

De la Cruz, E., & Vargas, J. A. (1987). Abundancia y distribución vertical de la meiofauna en la playa fangosa de Punta Morales, Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical, 35, 363-367.

Denyer, P., & Cárdenes, G. (2000). Costas Marinas. In P. Denyer & S. Kussmaul (Eds.), Geología de Costa Rica (pp 185-218). Cartago, Costa Rica: Editorial Tecnológica de Costa Rica.

Dexter, D. M. (1974). Sandy beach fauna of the Pacific and Atlantic coast of Costa Rica and Colombia. Revista de Biología Tropical, 22, 51-66.

Dittmann, S. (2000). Zonation of benthic communities in a tropical tidal flat of north-east Australia. Journal of Sea Research, 43, 33-51.

Dittmann, S., & Vargas, J. A. (2001). Tropical tidal flat benthos compared between Australia and Central America. In K. Reise (Ed.), Ecological Comparisons of Sedimentary Shores. Ecological Studies (pp. 275-293). New York, USA.; Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Eleftheriou, A., & Nicholson, M. D. (1975). The effects of exposure on beach fauna. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 16, 695-710.

Giere, O. (2008). Meiobenthology: The Microscopic Motile Fauna of Aquatic Sediments. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Gray, J. S., & Elliot, M. (2009). Ecology of Marine Sediments, from Science to Management. New York, USA.: Oxford University Press Inc.

Hammer, Ø., Harper, D. A. T., & Ryan, P. D. (2001). Past: Paleontological Statistics Software Package for Education and Data Analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica, 4, 1-9.

Høisæter, T. (1998). Preliminary check-list of the marine, shelled gastropods (Mollusca) of Golfo Dulce, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical, 46(6), 263-270.

Little, C. (2000). The Biology of Soft Shores and Estuaries. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

McLachlan, A., & Jaramillo, E. (1995). Zonation on sandy beaches. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 33, 305-355.

Maurer, D., Epifanio, C., Dean, H., Howe, S., Vargas, J., Dittel, A., & Murillo, M.. (1984). Benthic invertebrates of a tropical estuary: Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Journal of Natural History, 18, 47-61.

Quesada-Alpízar, M., & Cortés, J. (2006). Los ecosistemas Marinos del Pacífico Sur de Costa Rica: estado del conocimiento y perspectivas de manejo. Revista de Biología Tropical, 54(1), 101-145.

Roy, K. (2007). Ecosystem Changes, Natural versus Anthropogenic. In M. Denny & S. Gaines (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores (pp. 201-204). London, England: University of California Press Ltd.

Schlacher, T. A., & Thompson, L. M. C. (2007). Exposure of fauna to off-road vehicle (ORV) traffic on sandy beaches. Coastal Management, 35, 567-583.

Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC). (2009). Grúas II. Propuesta de ordenamiento territorial para la conservación de la biodiversidad de Costa Rica. Análisis de vacíos de conservación en Costa Rica. Vol III (1ra ed.). San José, Costa Rica: Asociación Conservación de la Naturaleza.

Van der Merwe, D., & Van der Merwe, D. (1991). Effects of off-road vehicles on the macrofauna of a sandy beach. South African Journal of Science, 87, 210-213.

Vargas, J. A. (1987). The benthic community of an intertidal mud flat in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Description of the community. Revista de Biología Tropical, 35, 229-316.

Vargas, J. A. (1988a). Community structure of macrobenthos and the results of macrodepredator exclusion on a tropical mud flat. Revista de Biología Tropical, 36, 287-308.

Vargas, J. A. (1988b). A survey of the meiofauna of an eastern tropical Pacific intertidal mud flat. Revista de Biología Tropical, 36, 541-544.

Vohra, F. C. (1971). Zonation on a tropical sandy shore. Journal of Animal Ecology, 40, 679-708.

Comments

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2015 Revista de Biología Tropical

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.