Is integrated taxonomy useful to study diversity and ecology? An example from crustacean zooplankton at the Long-Term ecological research site MareChiara (LTER-MC)

摘要

Molecular tools increasingly refine and improve the identification of zooplanktonorganisms based on phenotypic features, providing a more robust and comprehensivespecies description. Integration of data helps revealing the hidden diversity ofzooplankton and facilitating the detection of rare and non-indigenousspecies. Thisapproach, merging morphological characters and a diagnostic marker for specificidentification, such as the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), is here used tocharacterize key taxa from the zooplankton assemblage of the Gulf of Naples at theLong-TermEcological Research site MareChiara (LTER-MC)(Central Tyrrhenian Sea,Western Mediterranean Sea). Zooplankton biodiversity assessment using integratedtaxonomy was focused on selected crustacean groups: cyclopod copepods (Agetustypicus, Oithona plumifera, Oncaea mediterranea, Oncaea scottodicarloi); newly recordsof cladocerans (Evadne nordmanni), euphausiids (Euphausia krohnii, Nematoscelis megalops,Nyctiphanes spp.) and sergestids (Lucifer typus), with the aim to boost the knowledgeof real zooplankton biodiversity. The results of our investigation provide newhigh-qualitymolecular references of the analysed taxa and contribute to unveiling thegenetic diversification of zooplankton species and their relevant ecological significancefor Mediterranean coastal waters.