Experimental investigations of benthic reentry by migrating meiobenthic copepods

The resettlement behavior of meiobenthic copepods, which actively migrated from sediments in a seagrass bed, was investigated in a shallow subtidal area in Tampa Bay, Florida, U.S.A. Experimental studies were conducted to determine whether meiobenthic copepods after emerging from sediments at sunset reenter the sedimentary substratum or select other subhabitats, water and seagrass blades. Migrating copepods were collected with emergence traps and transferred to experimental aquaria in the field which contained sediment, seagrass-blade and water treatments. Settlement into each type of treatment was measured in separate 2-h and 9-h experiments. Differences in densities of copepod taxa retrieved from emergence traps and introduced into experimental aquaria were recorded as were differing relative proportions of each copepod species returning to the substratum treatments. Settlement patterns of total copepods and three dominant copepod species, Zausodes arenicolus, Halicyclops sp. and Robertsonia hamata, departed from those expected by chance. The populations of R. hamata and Halicyclops sp. which settled were generally skewed towards males and a close matching of males and copepodites within treatment dishes was evident. Similar to nighttime-emergence patterns, timing and magnitude of postmigration reentry differs among copepod taxa and such reentry may be linked to reproductive events. Complex behavioral processes previously noted for fish and macrofaunal organisms in seagrass beds may also be important in recruitment and reassortment of meiobenthic copepods.