@article {Moens:1998rm,
	title = {On the cultivation of free-living marine and estuarine nematodes},
	journal = {Helgolander Meeresuntersuchungen},
	volume = {52},
	year = {1998},
	pages = {115-139},
	publisher = {BIOLOGISCHE ANSTALT HELGOLAND},
	address = {BIBLIOTHEK COLUMBUSSTR, D-27568 BREMERHAVEN, GERMANY},
	abstract = {Although a large body of literature exists on the systematics and ecology of free-living marine and brackish-water nematodes, key questions on the nature and magnitude of interactions between nematodes and other organisms in the benthos remain unanswered. Relatively few authors have investigated live nematodes in food web studies or in experiments dealing with the nematodes{\textquoteright} response to a varying environment. It is mainly for the latter purpose that attempts have been made to maintain, rear and cultivate selected species. This paper describes the methodology used for the maintenance, rearing, and eventual permanent agnotobiotic cultivation of a variety of estuarine nematodes. Spot plates, where small samples of sediment or macrophyte material are inoculated on a sloppy agar layer, have been used for the purpose of maintenance and initial cultivation. Those species that reproduce on spot plates are then selected for monospecific cultivation on agar layers with different nutrient enrichments and with micro-organisms cotransferred from the spot plates as food. Mixtures of bacto and nutrient agar prepared in artificial seawater were specifically suitable for the xenic cultivation of nine bacterivorous and, when supplied with Erdschreiber nutrients, two algivorous/bacterivorous nematode species. Up to three generations of five other nematode species have been reared under laboratory conditions, and several more were kept alive and active for variable periods of time on agar. Generation times observed on spot plates for Adoncholaimus fuscus and Oncholaimus oxyuris were substantially shorter than previously published estimates and suggest a correspondingly higher predatory and scavenging potency for these and related enoplids. A procedure for the long-term storage of nematodes at -80 degrees C with glycerol as a cryoprotectant was successfully used for Diplolaimella dievengatensis, Panagrolaimus sp. 1, and Pellioditis marina, but not for Diplolaimelloides meyli. The authors have also summarized the existing literature on the cultivation of marine and brackish-water nematodes. Continuous cultivation appears to have been successful mainly for Aufwuchs and epiphytic nematodes; only few sediment-dwellers have been established in permanent culture. Of only just over 30 species that have ever been cultivated, more than half belong to one family (Monhysteridae) and three are Rhabditida, an order poorly represented in the marine environment. Four species have been grown in monoxenic and one in axenic culture, the latter though with limited success. It is concluded that our understanding of the basic nutritional requirements of marine nematodes is as yet insufficient, and that the culture techniques which have so far mainly deployed agar or Liquid substrates, while being suitable for the cultivation of Aufwuchs and epiphytic nematodes, do not accurately enough mimic gradients specific of the natural habitat of many sediment-dwellers.},
	keywords = {agnotobiotic, axenic, cultivation, estuarine, maintenance, marine, nematodes, Westerschelde Estuary, xenic},
	author = {Moens, T and Vincx, M}
}
@article {Moens:1999ez,
	title = {Selective attraction of marine bacterivorous nematodes to their bacterial food},
	journal = {Marine Ecology-Progress Series},
	volume = {176},
	year = {1999},
	pages = {165-178},
	publisher = {INTER-RESEARCH},
	address = {NORDBUNTE 23, D-21385 OLDENDORF LUHE, GERMANY},
	abstract = {This paper explores the role of selective attraction to food in determining the spatial (micro)distribution of closely related nematode species. The attractiveness of 3 different bacterial strains to 4 species of Monhysteridae, Diplolaimelloides meyli, Diplolaimella dievengatensis, Monhystera sp. and Geomonhystera disjuncta, was studied in a multiple choice design. In our study area, the 4 nematode species considered are associated with Spartina anglica detritus decay and have partially overlapping microhabitat preferences. As they all belong to the same feeding guild, they are potential competitors for food. Each of the 4 nematode species was attracted to the bacterial strain B1, but important interspecific differences were noted in the nematodes{\textquoteright} response to Live or heat-killed bacteria, to bacteria at different tell densities or of different age, and to the filtered supernatant of B1 culture. While the responses of D. meyli to the Gram-positive bacteria Halobacillus trueperi and to the Gramnegative Escherichia coli were similar, D. dievengatensis and Monhystera sp, were preferentially attracted to H. trueperi and E. coli, respectively. This opposite preference influenced both the numbers and their relative abundances of D. dievengatensis and Monhystera sp, inside bacterial patches in experiments with a mixed 2-species nematode inoculum. Bacterial cell density strongly influenced the nematode response, with D, meyli invariably preferring the highest cell densities offered, while D. dievengatensis and Monhystera sp, had a peak response at lower cell densities. Though chemotaxis is suggested as an underlying mechanism, the nature of the nematodes{\textquoteright} response remains unproved. The present results strongly support the importance of food patchiness in determining the heterogeneous distribution of nematodes, and extend the concept in such a way as to allow for small differences in microhabitat choice between closely related species. They also support the view that nematodes are specialist feeders, though they probably select spots where suitable food is plentiful rather than individual food particles. Finally, the present study offers a baseline for an understanding and further study of patterns of succession among nematode species associated with decaying Spartina anglica detritus in terms of highly specific relationships with different strains, growth stages, and densities of bacteria involved in the mineralization of Spartina anglica-derived organic matter.},
	keywords = {bacteria, chemotaxis, estuarine, microdistribution, nematodes, recruitment, species succession, taxis},
	author = {Moens, T and Verbeeck, L and de Maeyer, A and Swings, J and Vincx, M}
}
