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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.34, 1-9
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8
exposure of 120 to 130 m. The intertidal zone of both
the sites is shallow and presents small tide pools with
sandy or algae–covered substrata. The intertidal zone
at Kodinar is also flat with numerous small tide pools
with maximum exposure of 120–130 m. The lower
intertidal zone contains large tide pools filled with
zoanthids. An evident zonation pattern of the benthic
communities in the intertidal area was observed at all
the study sites (Trivedi and Vachhrajani, 2012a).
To study the macro faunal community associated to
the patches of
P. mutuki
, random quadrate sampling
method was used. A total of 20 quadrates (1 m
2
) were
laid randomly in the lower littoral zone where
P.
mutuki
was found to be abundant. All the benthic
specimens present in the quadrate were either
photographed or collected and fixed in 10% formalin
and brought to the laboratory for identification.
Different identification keys, descriptions and
monograms were used for macro fauna (Chhapgar,
1957; Hortog and Venam, 1993; Apte, 1998;
Seturamlingam and Khan, 1991; Jeyabaskaran et al.,
2000; Trivedi and Vachhrajani 2013c, Trivedi et al.,
2013). Since the occurrence of certain species was less
frequent their quantification was not carried out,
instead of that presence or absence data was collected
to mark their occurrence in the quadrate. The phyla
Molluscs and Arthropods were represented by several
species and were quantified at all the study sites.
Species abundance was used to define the macro
faunal community structure associated with
P. mutuki
because the macrofaunal species were distributed
patchily in the intertidal zone of the study area.
Different diversity indices were calculated to compare
the diversity of
P. mutuki
’s associated communities
.
Bray-Curtis similarity was calculated and a
dendrogram was prepared to graphically visualize the
differences among the four sites in terms of species
composition. Non-metric MDS and PCA analysis
were also carried out to find out the relationship
between the different study sites in terms of associated
macro faunal species diversity with
P. mutuki
.
Acknowledgement
Authors are grateful to Mr. Trinayan Borgohain, Mr. Umang
Trivedi, Mr. Vishal Pankhania, and Mr. Kalpesh Gohel for their
support during the field studies. The authors are also thankful
to Dr. P. C. Mankodi, Department of Zoology, Faculty of
Science, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat,
India for his help in the identification of gastropod shells. J.N.
Trivedi is thankful to UGC-RFSMS scheme for the financial
support.
Authors’ contributions
JNT and KDV both have designed the study and drafted the
manuscript. JNT has conducted the field work and collected the
required faunal samples. JNT and KDV both have conducted
survey for the quantification of faunal community and carried
out the analysis of the data. JNT and KDV have read the
manuscript and there is no issue of conflict.
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