DIVERSITY AND SIMILARITY AMONG CYANOBACTERIA ASSEMBLAGES FROM SELECTED AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS IN SARAWAK USING β –INDICES

Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate the diversity and similarity of cyanobacterial populations in selected Sarawak aquatic ecosystem using β-indices. Eight stations including aquaculture ponds, cage cultures, waterfall and artificial lake located in Serian, Bau and Batang Ai areas were selected. A total of 43 species belonging to 30 genera of cyanobacteria were recorded. The most distributed pattern among all sampling stations belongs to the genera Chroococcus, Lyngbya, Nostoc and Oscillatoria. The highest β diversity values were found among non-contiguous stations. Besides, no identical or totally different cyanobacteria diversity values were obtained among those non-contiguous stations. The highest β diversity value (0.84) was found among stations with contrasting environmental characteristics. The wide range of β-diversity and similarity suggested that different locations and types of aquatic ecosystems may have variations in physico-chemical properties of the water and eventually lead to the different composition of cyanobacteria.