Experimental cultivation of invasive seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty with assessment of macro and meiobenthos diversity from Tuticorin coast, Southeast coast of India

Abstract

The macro and meio benthic faunal community was observed on the cultivation of marine invasive seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty using artificial raft cultivation method. This study investigates the effect of K. alvarezii cultivation on the abundance and diversity of benthic macro and meiofauna in Tuticorin coast, Southeast coast of India, using a manipulative experiment involving the bottom benthic survey during the period of April 2015–March 2016. Species richness (D′), evenness (J′) and diversity (H′) were low in seaweed culture site than control site (non-culture site). The population densities of macro fauna were ranged from 1040–189666 no/m2 and 1004–78667 no/m2 in control site and seaweed culture site respectively. Meio fauna varied from 904–48866 no/m2 and 777–57166 no/m2 in control and seaweed culture site respectively. Species diversity (H′) of macro and meio fauna ranged from 1.071–1.699 and 1.432–2.398 respectively. Species richness (D′) varied from 0.5813–0.8045 and 0.7101–0.8882 and evenness (J′) varied from 0.7296–0.9112 and 0. 6023–0.7011 respectively. The macro benthic faunal groups were higher in control site than seaweed culture site during post monsoon and summer season. From the present study, we suggest that the culture of K. alvarezii in new habitat affects the local species due to its fast growing, nutrient uptakes and structurally more complex nature. This is the first report for measuring the impact of the K. alvarezii on the diversity of macro and meio faunal community for Indian coastal waters.