Study of Aquatic Plants and Relationship with the Abundance of Oriental River Prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) in Anzali Lagoon, Iran.

Abstract

<b>Background and Objective:</b> <i> </i>Aquatic plants are the main components of aquatic ecosystems. They play an important role in aquatic environments, reproducing and reconstructing stocks of all aquatic animals. In addition, some animals feed on aquatic plants. <i>Macrobrachium nipponense</i> is an aquatic species that use the aquatic plant as food and a place for reproducing. Therefore, determining the distribution of aquatic plants with the abundance of <i>M. nipponense</i> was essential for a better understanding of the aquatic plant roles in the <i>M. nipponense</i> life cycle. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> In this study, a sample of aquatic plants and <i>M. nipponense</i> during 2017 were taken. Identification and determination of dominant aquatic plants were made in the Anzali Lagoon. <b>Results:</b> The results showed floating macrophytes (<i>Azolla filiculoides</i>,<i> Nelumbo nucifera</i>,<i> Trapa natans</i>,<i> Hydrocotyle vulgaris</i>,<i> Hydrocharis morsus-ranae</i> and<i> Eichhornia crassipes</i>) and submerged macrophytes (<i>Ceratophyllum demersum</i>, <i>Myriophyllum spicatum</i>, <i>Stuckenia pectinata</i> and<i> Potamogeton crispus</i>) were in all of the sampling sites. Canonical correspondence analysis explained 100% of the total variance that correlated with the number and weight of <i>M. nipponense</i> with aquatic plants. The CCA analyses showed the number of <i>M. nipponense</i> was more affected by <i>T. natans</i> and <i>C. demersum</i> while the weight of <i>M. nipponense</i> was more affected by <i>A. filiculoides</i>, Algae and <i>P. crispus</i>. <b>Conclusion:</b> The correlation between aquatic plants and <i>M. nipponense</i> showed a significant correlation among all aquatic plants and the number and weight of <i>M. nipponense</i>. That means all aquatic plant effects on <i>M. nipponense</i>. But <i>Azolla filiculoides</i> (0.96), <i>Trapa natans</i> (0.97) and Algae (0.97) had more correlation coefficients compared to the other aquatic plants.