Free-living nematodes of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea), 2013-2014

Study Extent

Sampling

Quality Control

Method steps

1. Sampling was carried out at four sites by scuba divers who collected five virtually undisturbed sediment cores using KC Haps bottom corer with polycarbonate sample tubes (12.7 cm I.D. with a sample area of 127 cm2). In laboratory, one sediment core was subsampled by means of 3 cut-off plastic syringes (2.7 cm I.D., surface area of 5.72 cm2, 0-10 cm top sediment) in order to obtain three pseudoreplicates. The nematodes (38–1000 μm) were extracted from sediment subsamples by sieving each pseudoreplicate and by centrifuging the material retained by a 38 μm mesh net with Ludox HS-40 (density of 1.15–1.18 g cm−3). For each pseudoreplicate, 100 nematodes were randomly picked out using a fine pin under a stereomicroscope (Zeiss Discovery V20, magnification 40×), transferred from formalin to glycerol through a series of ethanol-glycerol solutions and finally mounted on permanent glass slides in anhydrous glycerin. Nematodes were identified under a microscope (100x magnification) at the genus level using dedicated pictorial and identification keys. All data are converted to by multiplying them by a conversion factor (1.66).

1. Nematoda
   common name: Nematoda rank: phylum