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Relative abundance data of 4 cryptic lineages of the nematode Litoditis marina in a saltmarsh habitat in the Western-Scheldt estuary
Citable as data publication
Guden, R.M.E.; Vafeiadou, A.M.; De Meester, N.; Derycke, S.; Moens, T.; Marine Biology Research Group - Ugent, Belgium (2018): Relative abundance data of 4 cryptic lineages of the nematode Litoditis marina in a saltmarsh habitat in the Western-Scheldt estuary. https://doi.org/10.14284/318


Description
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. We collected different algal species (i.e. two Fucus species and Ulva sp.) and separate algal structures (i.e. receptacula, thalli, non-fertile tips and bladders) at different sampling months and times (i.e. twice per sampling month), to examine differences in microhabitat use between coexisting L. marina species. more

Our study investigated the temporal and/or spatial niche differentiation of the cryptic nematode species Litoditis marina in their natural environment using a qPCR-based detection and relative quantification method. We collected different algal species (i.e. two Fucus species and Ulva sp) and separate algal structures (i.e. receptacula, thalli, non-fertile tips and bladders) at different sampling times and different months, to examine differences in microhabitat use between coexisting L. marina species. The dataset contains data from Ct values calculations which were used for statistical analyses. Separate analyses were conducted for adults and juveniles. For analysis 1, the differences in relative nematode abundances on different algal species were tested wherein we used the average on all algal structures of a single alga for Fucus spp. For analysis 2, separate tests were conducted for each Fucus species to determine differences in cryptic species composition on different algal structures.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Benthos, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Brackish water, Cryptic diversity, Data, Microhabitats, qPCR, ANE, Netherlands, Westerschelde, Vaarwater langs Paulina Polder, Litoditis marina (Bastian, 1865) Sudhaus, 2011

Geographical coverage
ANE, Netherlands, Westerschelde, Vaarwater langs Paulina Polder [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
November 2015 - April 2016
Seasonally

Taxonomic coverage
Litoditis marina (Bastian, 1865) Sudhaus, 2011 [WoRMS]

Contributors
Universiteit Gent; Faculteit Wetenschappen; Vakgroep Biologie; Onderzoeksgroep Mariene Biologie (MARBIOL), moredata creator

Publication
Based on this dataset
Guden, R.M. et al. (2018). Living apart-together: microhabitat differentiation of cryptic nematode species in a saltmarsh habitat. PLoS One 13(9): e0204750. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204750, more

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research: field survey
Metadatarecord created: 2018-01-29
Information last updated: 2018-02-20
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