Biodiversidade nematofaunística de três lagoas costeiras no estado do Rio Grande do Norte.

Abstract

The coastal lagoons stand out because they have a great diversity of organisms, among which, there are several representatives of meiofauna, especially the nematofauna. Despite its expressive distribution, the Nematoda phyla is still very unknown in many habitats, especially in freshwater, such as Brazilian coastal lagoons. In this sense, the present study aimed to describe meiofauna and nematofauna in the Boa Água, Alcaçuz and Bonfim lagoons, located in the municipality of Nísia Floresta, Rio Grande do Norte. The organisms were analyzed through the samplings collected in November 2017 in the three above mentioned lagoons, where three transects were made with 4 replicates each, totaling 16 samples. The meiofauna was composed of 6 groups and the nematofaunistic community was represented by 22 genera, of which 19 were found only in the Lagoa de Alcaçuz. In this lagoon, the most abundant genera were Theristus and Dorylaimus, whereas in Boa Água, Neotobrilus stood out. In the Bonfim Lagoon, Mononchus was the most abundant genus. Theristus, Dorylaimus and Neotobrilus had a higher percentage of dissimilarities between the prospected ponds, and in relation to the abiotic parameters studied, salinity was the one that most correlated with the community structure. The present work presents data relevant to the nematofauna of Brazilian environments.