Meiofauna

As Meiofauna or more frequently Mesofauna refers to the proportion of benthic organisms between 0.30 mm and 1 mm. Larger soil animals are assigned to the macrofauna , smaller ones to the microfauna .

In the terrestrial habitat, meiofauna include larger nematodes , microarthropods ( arthropods ) such as mites and springtails , tardigrades , rotifers and small bristle worms (oligochaeta, polychaeta). They usually live saprobically or as predators of the microfauna and flora .

In water bodies , the meiofauna is also formed by various arthropods, nematodes, benthic rotifers and similar organisms. The animal strain of the worm-like jaw mouths (Gnathostomulidae) lives exclusively in the sand gap system and forms the sand gap fauna ( mesopsammon ) with other organisms .

The role of meiofauna in the food chain has not yet been conclusively clarified.

literature

• Jörg Ott : Oceanography . 2nd edition, UTB, Ulmer, Stuttgart, 1996. ISBN 3825214508
• Higgins, Robert P .; Thiel, Hjalmar (ed.): Introduction to the study of Meiofauna . Washington, DC; London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. ISBN 0-87474-488-1 .
• Olav Giere: Meiobenthology. The microscopic motile fauna of aquatic sediments . 2nd Edition. Springer 2009. ISBN 978-3-540-68657-6 .