Ecology of the jellyfish (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa, Cubozoa) in the inlet Mucuripe, fortress, northeastern Brazil.

As medusas sÃo importantes componentes do zooplÃncton marinho e de interesse cientÃfico devido a seus impactos ecolÃgicos, econÃmicos e de saÃde pÃblica, entretanto poucos estudos abordam a ecologia das medusas no Nordeste do Brasil. O objetivo geral da dissertaÃÃo foi: analisar a Ecologia das medusas (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa, Cubozoa) na enseada do Mucuripe em Fortaleza, Nordeste do Brasil. Os objetivos especÃficos incluem: analisar a abundÃncia; a freqÃÃncia absoluta e relativa das espÃcies de medusas e o estudo da estrutura populacional das espÃcies Lychnorhiza lucerna, Chrysaora lactea e Chiropsalmus quadrumanus. As coletas foram realizadas de janeiro de 2004 a fevereiro de 2005 atravÃs de arrasto-de-praia na enseada do Mucuripe em Fortaleza, Estado do CearÃ. A dissertaÃÃo està estruturada em 5 capÃtulos para facilitar a submissÃo a periÃdicos cientÃficos. O capÃtulo 1 aborda uma introduÃÃo geral à dissertaÃÃo com aspectos geogrÃficos, metereolÃgicos e oceanogrÃficos. O capÃtulo 2 aborda a estrutura da comunidade de medusas com anÃlise da abundÃncia e freqÃÃncia das espÃcies estudadas e estudo com tÃcnicas de agrupamento e Ãndices de diversidade, dominÃncia e eqÃitabilidade. O capÃtulo 3, 4 e 5 estudam, respectivamente, a estrutura das populaÃÃes das medusas Lychnorhiza lucerna, Chrysaora lactea e Chiropsalmus quadrumanus na enseada do Mucuripe, Nordeste do Brasil.The jellyfishes are important components of marine zooplancton and they have scientific interest due to its impacts on the ecology, the economy and the public health, althought few studies had approached the ecology of the jellyfishes from north-eastern Brazil. The general objective of the dissertation was: to analyze the Ecology of the jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa, Cubozoa) in the cove of the Mucuripe in Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil. The specific objectives include: to analyze the abundance; the absolute and relative frequency of the species of jellyfishes and the study of the population structure of the species Lychnorhiza lucerna, Chrysaora lactea and Chiropsalmus quadrumanus. The collections were done from January of 2004 to February of 2005 through trawl in the cove of the Mucuripe in Fortaleza, Cearà state. The dissertation is structured in 5 chapters to facilitate the submission for scientific journals. The chapter 1 approaches general introduction to the dissertation with meteorological, geographical and oceanographic aspects. Chapter 2 approaches the community structure of jellyfishes with the analysis of the abundance and frequency of the studied species; study with cluster, and indices of diversity, dominance and evenness. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 study, respectively, the structure of the jellyfishes populations of Lychnorhiza lucerna, Chrysaora lactea and Chiropsalmus quadrumanus in the cove of the Mucuripe, Northeast of Brazil