Sandy beaches harbor a rich and dense diversity of benthic fauna that play multiple ecological roles, such as nutrient regeneration and integrating marine and terrestrial trophic webs. However, for many people, sandy beaches are recognized just as waves breaking on the coast and the water washing the sand in a gentle up and down fashion with the tides. Few, however, will have the opportunity to look closely, at each tiny space between each grain of sand, where tiny little microorganisms, called meiofauna, are wriggling their way through the maze of sand grains and shell fragments. Meiofaunal organisms have a similar worm-looking appearance, but they make up several different phyla, including copepods, nematodes, annelids, gastrotrichs, tardigrades, kinorhynchs, nemertean, and flatworms, all squirming, floating, and crawling among the grains of sands. In this chapter, we share an overview of the emerging knowledge of meiofauna diversity in Brazilian sandy beaches. We start introducing the meiofauna general spatial-temporal distribution patterns on beaches. Then, we present a recent state of the art about each meiofauna group found on the Brazilian coast. |
