Search results for "Cidaroidea"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Ectosymbiosis associated with cidaroids (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) promotes benthic colonization of the seafloor in the Larsen Embayments, Western A…
2011
7 pages; International audience; Ice-shelf collapses in the Larsen A and B embayments along the Weddell side of the Antarctic Peninsula resulted in new open-water areas that are likely reorganizing benthic communities. It is a natural laboratory to assess colonization of the sea bottom under new conditions. We tested the hypothesis that the epibionts associated to cidaroid echinoids could promote or enhance the colonization of hard surfaces. In fact, being vagile, cidaroids might improve dispersal capabilities of the sessile animals that are attached to their spines, e.g., promoting the colonization of areas where the fauna has been eradicated by iceberg scouring. If this hypothesis is corr…
Ectosymbiosis is a critical factor in the local benthic biodiversity of the Antarctic deep sea.
2008
10 pages; International audience; In deep-sea benthic environments, competition for hard substrates is a critical factor in the distribution and diversity of organisms. In this context, the occurrence of biotic substrates in addition to mineral substrates may change the characteristics of sessile fauna. We tested this hypothesis at different localities of the Weddell Sea (Antarctica) by studying the diversity of ectosymbionts living on the spines of cidaroids (echinoids). The presence of cidaroids promoted a higher total specific richness and increased sessile species abundance, but did not change the diversity. Analyses of species distribution suggested that the cidaroids are a favourable …