Meiofauna at a tropical sandy beach in the SW Atlantic: the influence of seasonality on diversity.

Meiofauna was dominated by Crustacea (46% of sequence reads), Annelida (28% of sequence reads) and Nematoda (12% of sequence reads) in periods of the year with high temperatures (>25 °C), high salinity (>31.5 ppt), and calm waters. Our data support our initial hypotheses revealing a higher meiofaunal diversity (phylogenetic and Shannon's Diversity) and different composition during warmer periods of the year. Meiofaunal diversity was driven by a set of multiple variables, including biological variables (biopolymeric carbon) and organic matter quality (protein content, lipid content, and carbohydrate-to-lipid ratio).