Benthic community of the sungai pulai seagrass bed, Malaysia

Abstract

An ecological survey was carried out to investigate the benthos community structure based on density and diversity of the meiobenthos and macrobenthos communities inhabiting the seagrass bed and to investigate their relationship with environmental factors at Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor. A PVC hand corer was used to collect sediment samples from the 3rd to the 5th of December 2006 during the lowest tide. Three stations were chosen; Sungai Duku (SI) (07°24.137'N, 103°22.476' E), Tanjung Adang (S2) (01°19.762'N, 103°33.894' E) and Merambong (S3) (01°20.094'N 103°35.982'E). The highest density of meiobenthos was found at S2 followed by S3 and S1. The macrobenthos density was found to be greatest at S3 followed by S2 and SI. S2 had the highest diversity index with a value of 1.69 and 2.06 for meiobenthos and macrobenthos respectively. The statistical analysis demonstrated a significant difference existed between the benthic assemblages of the three stations. The differences in environmental parameters might be responsible for the assemblages of benthic community between stations.