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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.23, 210-218
http://ijms.biopublisher.ca
210
Research Article Open Access
Distribution and Diversity of Intertidal Macrofauna of Dharmadam Beach,
South West Coast of India
V. Anu Pavithran , S. Bijoy Nandan
Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi - 682 016,
Kerala, India
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol.4, No.23 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0023
Received: 07 Feb., 2014
Accepted: 09 Mar., 2014
Published: 25 Apr., 2014
Copyright
©
2014 Pavithran and Nandan, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Pavithran and Nandan, 2014, Distribution and Diversity of Intertidal Macrofauna of Dharmadam Beach, South West Coast of India, International Journal of
Marine Science, Vol.4, No.23 210
-
218 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0023)
Abstract
This contribution presents the abundance and diversity of macrofauna in the pristine intertidal regions of Dharmadam
beach along the Kerala coast (South West coast of India) during August 2009 to January 2011.The width of the beach is 15-30m,
which alternates according to the tidal height. Environmental parameters like salinity, nutrients, conductivity and total dissolved salts
analyzed exhibited significant correlation with macrofauna that dwells in the habitat. Gastropods (45.54%), polychaetes (10%),
tanaids (43.4%) dominated in the present study. The monthly variations in abundance were displayed by dominant faunal species in
various stations but did not show any seasonal variations except that of
Emerita holthuisi
, which was observed only in pre monsoon
(Feb-May) and monsoon (Jun-Sep) months. Analysis of community indices showed monthly variations in species diversity. The peak
mean species diversity was observed in station 1 in May, 2009 and Station 2 in December, 2009 and January, 2010.The spatial
distribution of some organisms were not even in the study area. The sparse distribution, low richness and higher dominance of
organisms were the characteristic feature of community structure. The dissimilarity trend of organisms like polychaetes, gastropods
and total groups were discernible by MDS plotting. It best explained the dominance of polychaetes and gastropods on the beach.
Assessing the correlation of water quality parameters to the fauna residing in study area BEST (Bio-Env + Stepwise) analysis was
done and salinity showed more significance towards fauna. Draftsman plot were also done to observe the interactions of organisms.
The highest correlation has been showed by barnacles and gastropods (0.825).The present study discussed the interaction of
organisms in the selected habitat with environmental factors prevailing there along with the diversity and abundance.
Keywords
Dharmadam Beach; Intertidal macrofauna; Environmental parameters; Diversity
Introduction
The study of abundance of life in each ecosystem is a
cognizance to everyone that how an ecosystem is
performing. Intertidal zone are such fascinating
ecosystems which have been pulled towards scientific
community since many years. The intertidal,
sometimes called the littoral zone, is defined as the
part of the seafloor that lies between the highest high
and lowest low tides (Castro and Huber, 2005). Being
out of water and exposed to air establishes a unique
nature to this environment.
Intertidal zones especially
the South West coast of India are harbor of distinct
and specific organisms.
The subsistence of intertidal
habitat is almost by definition due to tides (Carefoot
and Simpson, 1977, Kenchington, 1990), which are
the outcome of confounded gravitational effects of the
sun and moon of the oceans. Both flora and fauna
found in between the intertidal zones experiencing the
tidal movements, which influences the life of
inhabitants there. The intertidal organisms are more
prone to climate changing like sea level rise and
temperature fluctuations, rainfall etc. It affects the
abundance and distribution of organisms.
The distributions of organisms in the intertidal zones
usually occupy only specific zones. The upper limit
(high tide zone to mid tide zone) of intertidal
organisms seems to be set by abiotic environmental
factors like extreme temperature, prolonged exposure
to air, less feeding time. In general abiotic factors set
the boundaries to the range of a species within an
environmental gradient (Beukema and Flach, 1995).
But generally the lower limit of intertidal zone is
controlled by the biological factors especially
predation and competition.