A study on density and diversity of meibenthos at seagrass bed of Sungai Pulai Estuary, Johor

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the density and diversity of meiobenthic community in seagrass beds of Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor which harbours the largest intertidal seagrass bed in Malaysia. This study also investigated the relationship of environmental factors with the density and diversity distribution of meiobenthos within the seagrass beds at each station selected. In this study, handcore was used to collect the sediment samples during the low tide. The tax.a found were Nematoda, Harpacticoida Copepod, Calanoida Copepoda, Cyclopoida Copepoda, Ostrocoda, Polychaeta, Oligochaeta, Isopoda, Amphipoda, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Cumacea and Tanaidacea. Nematode was the most abundant found in all stations. Tanjung Adang (S2) was found to have the highest mean density of total meiobenthos ( 40 to 223 individuals 10 cm- 2 ) followed by Merambong (S3) (40 to 129 individuals 10 cm - 2 ) and Sungai Duku (Sl) was found to have the lowest mean total density ofmeiobenthos (14 to 45 individuals 10 cm- 2). In the study of the diversity, Tanjung Adang (S2) also has the highest diversity index (H') ranged from 1.227 to 2.041.