Premium
Mesozooplankton community structure in a degrading mangrove ecosystem of the Cochin coast, India
Author(s) -
Sreelekshmi Suseela,
Preethy Chakkalakkal M.,
Joseph Philomina,
Varghese Rani,
Bijoy Nandan Sivasankaran
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
lakes and reservoirs: research and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.296
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1440-1770
pISSN - 1320-5331
DOI - 10.1111/lre.12159
Subject(s) - zooplankton , mangrove , salinity , community structure , abundance (ecology) , ecology , biomass (ecology) , oceanography , environmental science , geography , biology , geology
The diversity, abundance and community structure of mesozooplankton from the hydrographically differing mangrove habitats in Cochin, Kerala (India), were investigated. Eleven zooplankton groups were identified, with calanoid copepods (62%) comprising the predominant population, followed by crustacean nauplii (22%) and mysids (12%). Nitrogen limiting (N: P ratio 5.13 ± 7.03) with a mixo‐mesohaline salinity (8.96 ± 3 psu) and relatively low temperatures (30.28 ± 0.9 °C) was a characteristic feature of the study zones. Non‐metric multidimensional scaling based on Bray–Curtis similarity ( PRIMER ) analysis revealed there was little variation in the mesozooplankton structure among sampling sites (stress 0.05; ANOSIM test Global R :0.325). BEST analysis indicated that temperature and salinity exhibited the best correlation ( ρ = 0.701) with fauna. The results of this study indicated a severe reduction in zooplankton abundance, biomass and diversity. It is clear that the zooplankton communities are depleting, along with the mangrove vegetation, because of the shallowness and unsuitable environmental conditions of the water bodies attributable to anthropogenic stresses.