JPR Advance Access originally published online on July 1, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research 2004 26(11):1277-1287; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh119
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Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 26 No. 11 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved
The flood-tide ichthyoplanktonic community at the entrance into a Brazilian tropical estuary
Departamento de Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, AV. Fernando Ferrari, S/N, Goiabeiras 29060-900, Vitória, ES, Brasil
* Corresponding Author: joyeux{at}npd.ufes.br
Received April 7, 2004; accepted in principle June 2, 2004; accepted for publication June 15, 2004; published online July 1, 2004.
The ichthyoplanktonic community of the smallest inlet into a two-entrance Brazilian estuary was studied monthly between January and December 1999. Six samples were collected during the two central hours of each night flood tide. The community was dominated by Engraulidae, various species of Gobiidae, mainly Microgobius meeki, and Gerreidae as a distant third. Non-resident species showed low abundance. Seasonality was well marked, with highest abundance, lowest diversity and equitability between February and April, though individual taxa displayed large differences amongst themselves. Variations in the structure and abundance of the community did not present any obvious correlation with freshwater input, salinity or water temperature, features that appear similar to those detected in the single other South-American tropical estuary similarly studied. At the continental scale, the communities of these two estuaries differ from those of Amazonian river-dominated estuaries and of wind-driven sub-tropical or temperate lagoonal systems. In both, the community is numerically dominated by estuarine-dependent taxa, amongst which numerous Sciaenidae, and seasonal variations appear regulated by climatic conditions: either rainfall or temperature.