The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Macroinvertebrates associated with macrophytes in Sodwana Bay, with further consideration of amphipod taxonomy Rebecca Milne Town Cape of Dissertation presented for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Zoology UniversityUniversity of Cape Town February 2012 Supervisor: Prof. Charles L. Griffiths Declaration Sample collection in the field was conducted with the ACEP II biodiversity team. For certain groups, taxonomic experts were consulted. Jennifer Olbers provided identifications of Ophiuroidea, and Aiden Biccard of Cirripedia. Algal turf species were identified in the field by Rob Anderson and John Bolton. Data on seagrass weights, proportions and epiphyte identification and sorting was provided by Catherine Browne. The remaining data collection, analysis, and writing of this dissertation are my own work, with the assistance of Professor Charles Griffiths. Town I know the meaning of plagarism, and declare that all of the work in the dissertation, save for that which is properly acknowledged, is my own. Cape of __________________ Rebecca Milne __________________ Date University 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: General Introduction ................................................................................................ 7 1.1 Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Motivation and objectives .............................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2: Seagrass Beds ......................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Results ............................................................................................................................ 25 2.4 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 3: Algal Turf Community Ecology ............................................................................ 37 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................Town 37 3.2 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 43 3.3 Results ............................................................................................................................ 47 3.4 Discussion ......................................................................................................................Cape 57 Chapter 4: Amphipod Taxonomy ............................................................................................of 63 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 63 4.2 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 66 4.3 Taxonomic section ......................................................................................................... 67 4.4 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................ 121 Chapter 5: Conclusion................................................................University ............................................ 129 5.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 129 5.2 Synthesis....................................................................................................................... 131 5.3 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 136 Literature Cited ...................................................................................................................... 139 Appendix 1: Sodwana Bay Species List ................................................................................ 147 Appendix 2: Amphipod Taxonomy ....................................................................................... 159 3 Acknowledgements First thanks go to my supervisor, Charles Griffiths for his continuing support and encouragement. His advice and wisdom has been essential going forward. Funding support was provided by the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Project, the Marine Research Institute at the University of Cape Town, and the O’Brien Foundation. Special thanks goes to the October 2009 and March 2010 ACEP field teams for two successful field trips with a lot of work in a little bit of paradise. I am particularly grateful to Rob Anderson, John Bolton and Catherine Browne for their assistance with planning and execution of field work and data collection from the algal side of things. This project would not have been possible without such collaboration,Town and I appreciate all their hard work. Thanks also to my family in Canada for their support,Cape and my new friends in Cape Town for being so welcoming, and making this MSc the offulfilling experience that it has been. University 4 Abstract Biodiversity knowledge in South Africa is uneven, both taxonomically and geographically. The KwaZulu-Natal coast is under sampled in comparison to the rest of South Africa, which limits the accuracy of biogeographic diversity analyses. The study site for this thesis is Sodwana Bay, focus of the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme, a multidisciplinary project centered on understanding the Coelacanth habitat of Sodwana Bay at an ecosystem level. Globally and locally, the biodiversity of small species is under-studied. While historically, research in Sodwana Bay has focused on larger, more conspicuous species, this study records for the first time macroinvertebrate communities in Sodwana Bay. Macroalgal biotopes were selected to focus sampling. Macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and sediment were collected from forty-five 25 x 25 cm quadrats. Chapter 2 examined the community inhabiting Thalassodendron ciliatum beds. From this biotope, 204 macroinvertebrate and 41 algal epiphyte species were identified. Polychaeta, Mollusca and Arthropoda were the most speciose phyla (76%); Hydrozoa and Bryozoa also contributed a considerable portion to the community composition (20%). Red algae were dominant among the epiphytes (76%). There was no strong statistical differentiation between seagrass bed samples from different exposure levels. This is partially due to the low number of replicates, but also the sheltering of the macroinvertebrate communityTown by T. ciliatum. Chapter 3 examined algal turfs biotopes from across six depth groups and recorded 314 species of macroinvertebrates and 72 of macroalgae. Species composition differed quite dramatically with depth. Different species characterised the community composition for each depth, and 67% of macroinvertebrate species were specificCape to one depth. Macroinvertebrate biodiversity was greater on inshore reefs than in the surf zone (r²=0.358). A second stage analysis was attempted to detect whether macroinvertebrateof communities were more closely related to algal community by species composition or functional groupings, but this was inconclusive due to the overwhelming influence of depth on community composition. Chapter 4 examined the amphipod component of the material collected from Sodwana Bay. Two new species were described: Varohios n. sp. and Ceradocus n. sp. In addition to the two species new to science, ten species were recorded for the first time in South Africa from Sodwana Bay material. A literature review increased the listed number of South African Amphipoda from 256University to 485 species. This study recorded 469 macroinvertebrate species in Sodwana Bay. This is not a complete species list, as species accumulation curves do not near an asymptote, and there were many rare species only recorded once. In addition to the Amphipoda new records and species, most other phyla included a number of species that were not in regional identification guides. Isopoda is particularly poorly known, and is estimated globally to have a large proportion of undescribed species. This study has only examined a few of the biotopes in Sodwana Bay, and the biodiversity of macroinvertebrates inhabiting large invertebrates such as coral, sponges and ascidians remain to be studied. 5 Town Cape of University Chapter 1: General Introduction 1.1 Literature Review South African marine biodiversity South Africa has a coastline of more than 3 650 km and a continental