The structure of the Meiozoobenthos community and its contribution to demersal fishery in mangrove forest ecosystem in Banyuwedang Bay, Buleleng, Bali

Abstract

Meiozoobenthos are small animals of less than 1.0 millimeter in length that live in mud substrate. Meanwhile, demersal fish that live in the seabed is one of the predatory groups that allegedly exploit the existence of meiozoobenthos by preying on them. Some interesting issues to be studied are the ecological aspects of meiozoobenthos, especially meiozoobenthos community structures and their contribution to the existence of demersal fish. To answer this problem, field research has been conducted by taking a location in the mangrove ecosystem in Banyuwedang Bay. In this study, the researcher collected biotic and abiotic data, taken on 20 sample points spread over 4 (four) sub locations. The collected data is then analyzed by quantitative and qualitative descriptive approach. The results of this research are: (a) the diversity of meiozoobenhos communities in Banyuwedang Bay is high with the number of species of 53 species and diversity index of 3.78, (b) the diversity of demersal fish in Banyuwedang Bay is moderate with the number of species as many as 13 species with diversity index of 2.50, (c) meiozoobenthos community contributes greatly to the presence of demersal fish in Banyuwedang Bay through meiozoobenthos’s role as the food for demersal fish, and (d) ecologically, the condition of mangrove ecosystem in Banyuwedang Bay is quite feasible as a place to develop a demersal fishery.