Open AccessAssessment of Anthropogenically Stressed Ecosystem of Port Waters Using Macrobenthic Community-Biotic Indices
Author(s) -
Sivaraj Sigamani,
Durga Prasad Behera,
Prabhu Kolandhasamy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
turkish journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.343
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 2149-181X
pISSN - 1303-2712
DOI - 10.4194/trjfas19539
Subject(s) - biotic index , environmental science , estuary , benthic zone , ecology , habitat , biotic component , ecosystem , marine ecosystem , population , macrobenthos , oceanography , biology , abiotic component , geology , demography , sociology
Macrobenthic community being used as marine health indictor vis-à-vis to anthropogenic disturbance since their characteristic of life cycle (reproductive mode, sedentary, energy transfer, sensitive-resistance species, indicator organism etc.). Therefore, the present study was chosen in Vizag port waters have been subject to a variety of anthropogenic pressure in the last two decades. The purpose of this study was to assess the ecological status of the port environment through biotic indices like AZTI 's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and Multivariate-AMBI Index (M-AMBI) which have been successfully validated geographically and anthropogenically stressed habitats. The result revealed that the inner harbor (IHC, Iron ore Q1 & Iron ore Q7) stations are heavily disturbed while the outer harbor fall between undisturbed and moderately disturbed status. It was observed that the reduced tidal action inside the harbor determines the health status indicating that the Iron ore transporting areas are at high risk with respect to benthic population.