Distribution of pollen in sediment under Sonneratia s.p stand structure at Pulau Timun, Kelantan Delta, Tumpat

Abstract

The lower reaches of River Kelantan formed a vast delta (1200ha) consisting a bay, mangrove and estuarine environments on the north-east coast of peninsular Malaysia. The mangroves at the delta in Turn.pat were composed of Nypa fruticans, Sonneratia caseolaris, Avicennia alba, Rhizhophora apiculata and Rhizophora mucronata. The sampling has been done firstly by set up the plot under Sonneratia sp. mangrove stand. Within the plot, the sediment has been collected by using D-core to the depth of 50cm. The sediments then been divided into five layers. Then it's been sieved under different mesh sizes by using vacuum pump. The pollen than have been observed and counted. From the study, it shows that the core gives the same sediment texture which is silty loam. Silty loam is soil material that contains 50% or more silt and 12 to 27% clay, or 50 to 80% and less than 12% clay. For the pollen species distribution, even though the studies were done under Sonneratia sp stand structure, but there are other species of pollen dominated the study area. It shows that the spore and Acrostichum sp. is easy to found at each layer of sediment. The percentages of spore found in core are 33.95%, Ahrostichum sp. is 33.88% and Sonneratia sp. is 14.86%. For the basic structure between life pollen and pollen within sediment, they don't have any difference between these two difference pollen. Their aperture, sculpture and shape just the same for each species.