Abstract
The mangrove intertidal zone is characterised by plenty floral and faunal diversity. The mangroves provide important habitat for a wide range of species like diverse communities of benthic organisms and function as nursery habitats for different types of crab, prawn and fish species and support offshore fish populations and fisheries. To assess the occurrence, spatial distribution and species composition of macro fauna in a mangrove area, core samples were taken along with transect in Portblair bay, South Andaman Islands. Three sites were taken; each study area was divided into three zones viz. Proximal, middle and distal zones, which were analyzed according to the floral composition. The highest value was observed at Barmanallah (2061 no.m-2), followed by Carbyn’s Cove (1710 no.m-2) and the lowest value was noticed at Manjery (882 no.m-2). Terebralia palustris, Cerithidea sp., Periopthalmus sp., Uca sp., Balanus sp. and Polychaetes were dominated in order. Some locations were found to support a high diversity of organisms across habitats, while other locations had high densities of a few species only.
Highlights
Mangroves are one among the most productive coastal ecosystem
Each study area was divided into three zones namely proximal, middle and the distal zones and the macro fauna was analyzed adopting the method proposed by Garge et al, and dagar et al [8,9]
Carbyn’s Cove: Out of five samplings done at the proximal zone, the highest value was noticed in the first sampling with 166 no.m-2 and the lowest value was noticed in the third sampling with 145 no.m-2
Summary
Mangroves are one among the most productive coastal ecosystem. The flora includes 26 true mangrove and 15 allied species [2]. It shows a diverse variety of photosynthetic bacteria, plankton, benthic diatoms, floating epiphytic and benthic algae and halophytic marshy vegetation. The common mangrove species are Rhizophora mucornata, R. apiculata, Avicennia mariana, A. alba, A. officinalis, Bruguriea gymnorrihiza, Sonneratia alba, S. apetala, Aegilatis rotundiflora, Ageiceras corniculatum and the common mangrove plam Nipa fruticans [3]. The residential organisms present in the mangrove regions include vertebrates like kingfishers, mudskippers, snakes and mangrove monitor lizard. Terrestrial invertebrates comprise spider, ants, termites, moths and mosquitoes. Crustaceans and polychaetes [4,5]
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