Abstract
Gastrotricha is a group of meiofaunal-sized, free-living invertebrates present in all aquatic ecosystems. The phylum includes over 860 species globally, of which 505 nominal species have been recorded in marine sandy sediments; another 355 taxa inhabit the freshwater environments, where they are recurrent members of the periphyton and epibenthos, and, to a lesser degree, of the plankton and interstitial fauna. Gastrotrichs are part of the permanent meiofauna and, in general, they rank among the top five groups for abundance within meiobenthic assemblages. The diversity, abundance, and ubiquity of Gastrotricha allow us to suppose an important role for these animals in aquatic ecosystems; however, ecological studies to prove this idea have been comparatively very few. This is mainly because the small size and transparency of their bodies make gastrotrichs difficult to discover in benthic samples; moreover, their contractility and fragility make their handling and morphological survey of the specimens rather difficult. Here we offer an overview, describe the basic techniques used to study these animals, and provide a key to known genera in an attempt to promote easy identification and to increase the number of researchers who may be interested in conducting studies on this understudied ecological group of microscopic organisms.
Highlights
Gastrotrichs are minute vermiform, acoelomate invertebrates; they inhabit the aquatic ecosystems of the world as part of the meiofaunal communities
This paper was derived from a workshop on marine meiofaunal organisms of Costa Rica with a
This paper was derived from a workshop on marine meiofaunal organisms of Costa Rica with a focus on Gastrotricha held in January 2019 at the CIMAR (University of Costa Rica) focus on Gastrotricha held in January 2019 at the CIMAR (University of Costa (Supplementary Material Figure S10)
Summary
Gastrotrichs are minute (from 60 μm to 3.5 mm in total length) vermiform, acoelomate invertebrates; they inhabit the aquatic ecosystems of the world as part of the meiofaunal communities. Gastrotrichs are members of the benthos and periphyton and, to a limited degree, of the plankton and psammon. In marine settings, these tiny animals inhabit (mostly) the interstice of the sandy habitats and are usually the third group in density among the interstitial meiofaunal taxa, behind the nematodes and the harpacticoid copepods (e.g., abundance up to 364 ind./10 cm2 ) [1]; several studies have found them to be the second or the first most abundant meiobenthic group [2,3,4,5]. In marine as well as in freshwater systems, the ecological role of Gastrotricha is accomplished within the detritivorous, microphagous benthic assemblage.
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