Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Small-sized (< 1mm) invertebrates, commonly known as meiofauna, are abundant and ubiquitous in all aquatic ecosystems, performing key functions such as nutrient cycling and sediment stability. Yet, their unexplored diversity and response to disturbances limit our capacity to understand, mitigate, and remediate the consequences of pollution and environmental changes. The biodiversity of meiofauna is largely overlooked especially in freshwater habitats. For example, the Tennessee River hosts more aquatic species than any other region in North America and contains one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems in the world, however, little is known about its meiofaunal biodiversity. This work includes results obtained between 2019 and 2021 thanks to the contribution of research students working in Leasi’s lab and students enrolled in the Meiofauna Biodiversity class. An integrated morphological and molecular approach revealed the presence of over 200 meiofaunal species distributed across 10 phyla. Results support that the Tennessee River could be a hotspot of biodiversity for small-sized animals as well. Future works will focus on understanding how anthropogenic inputs affect meiofauna biodiversity in this important ecosystem.

Document Type

posters

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

COinS
 

First report of meiofauna biodiversity from the Tennessee River

Small-sized (< 1mm) invertebrates, commonly known as meiofauna, are abundant and ubiquitous in all aquatic ecosystems, performing key functions such as nutrient cycling and sediment stability. Yet, their unexplored diversity and response to disturbances limit our capacity to understand, mitigate, and remediate the consequences of pollution and environmental changes. The biodiversity of meiofauna is largely overlooked especially in freshwater habitats. For example, the Tennessee River hosts more aquatic species than any other region in North America and contains one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems in the world, however, little is known about its meiofaunal biodiversity. This work includes results obtained between 2019 and 2021 thanks to the contribution of research students working in Leasi’s lab and students enrolled in the Meiofauna Biodiversity class. An integrated morphological and molecular approach revealed the presence of over 200 meiofaunal species distributed across 10 phyla. Results support that the Tennessee River could be a hotspot of biodiversity for small-sized animals as well. Future works will focus on understanding how anthropogenic inputs affect meiofauna biodiversity in this important ecosystem.