Meeting Abstract

7.7  Jan. 4  A Molecular Analysis of Marine Meiofaunal Diversity Along a Natural Environmental Gradient in the Vicinity of a Shallow-Water Hydrothermal Vent. KARLEN, David J.*; CAMPBELL, Terry G.; GAREY, James R.; University of South Florida; University of South Florida; University of South Florida garey@cas.usf.edu

The meiofaunal diversity was characterized along an environmental gradient from a shallow water hydrothermal vent at Tutum Bay, Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea. The meiofaunal community was characterized by sequencing 18S rDNA clones from libraries derived from sediment samples. Samples were collected at nine sites located at 30-50m intervals along a 300 m transect from the vent area and an additional tenth reference site located approximately 1.5 km away from vent. Five samples from each site were combined and sieved through a 500 �m sieve onto a 53�m mesh sieve. A portion of the 18S rDNA gene was amplified and cloned into libraries and approximately 300 clones were sequenced from each site. The sequences were aligned in CLUSTAL and phylogenetic trees made using MEGA. Individual and clustered groups of sequences were identified by using the BLAST search function in GENBANK. Unique sequences were used as a proxy for �species� and the number of sequences within a cluster served as a proxy for �abundance� in calculating traditional diversity indices. We report a preliminary analysis of this data and correlate it with physicochemical properties along the transect including gradients in temperature, pH and arsenic concentration. We also compare these meiofaunal results to a previous macrofauna diversity study at the same site.