Community Structure and Distribution Pattern of Intertidal Invertebrate Macrofauna at Some Anthropogenically Influenced Coasts of Kathiawar Peninsula (India)
Present communication reports the community structure and distribution pattern of intertidal invertebrate macrofauna at four shores of the Kathiawar peninsular coastline off the Arabian Sea (India). The selected shores have different levels of human activities. Present report tests three hypotheses; that is, (i) distribution of invertebrate macrofauna in these shores is influenced by space and time, (ii) abiotic factors have a profound influence on the distribution pattern of intertidal macrofaunal assemblages, and (iii) human activities influence the community structure of the intertidal invertebrate macrofauna at these shores. To test these hypotheses, spatiotemporal variations in different ecological indices were studied. A total of 60 species from six phyla were considered for the study. High species diversity was recorded during winter and monsoon seasons in almost all the shores studied. It was also evident that a few environmental factors had a cumulative influence on the distribution pattern of intertidal macrofauna. Significant spatial variations in the species diversity and evenness were also observed. Though the shores studied have similar coast characteristics and climatic conditions, they face different levels of human activities. Therefore, the observed variations in the intertidal faunal assemblage were possibly caused by anthropogenic stress. 1. Introduction Rocky shores are the most extensive littoral habitats exposed to eroding waves and, thus, are ecologically very important [1]. Among that, invertebrate communities of rocky shores function as integrators of ecological processes over time scale [2, 3]. The communities act as a bioindicator and may be monitored to assess ecological change due to anthropogenic actions [4, 5]. Anthropogenic stress is the response of biological entity, of any individual, population, or community, to an anthropogenic disturbance. This stress at one level of organization may also have an impact on another level. Since it is difficult to detect the effects of anthropogenic stress at the individual organismic level, they are more often investigated at a population or community level [1]. Pielou [6] and Magurran [7] reported that the measures of species diversity play a central role in ecology and conservation biology. Benthic habitat is complex and many of the environmental factors that influence macroinvertebrate assemblage structure are interrelated [8, 9]; thus, identifying a single environmental factor as most important in structuring assemblages is challenging. Intertidal invertebrates and macroalgae
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