Macrobenthic Community And Its Relations With Environmental Factors In Coastal Waters Of Penang National Park, Malaysia
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Date
2015-07
Authors
Gholizadeh, Mohammad
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Abstract
A study on the distribution and abundance of macrobenthic communities was conducted along
the coastal waters of northwestern part of Penang Island, Malaysia. Four selected locations
(Teluk Bahang, Teluk Aling, Teluk Ketapang and Pantai Acheh) were chosen based on the
degree of anthropogenic activities. A total of 432 sediment samples were collected bimonthly
between June 2010 and April 2011. At each location, macrobenthos, sediment and water
samples, were collected starting at an intervals of 200 m near the edge of the subtidal and
extending 400 m, 600 m, 800m, 1000 m and 1200 m toward the sea along the coastal waters. A
total of 68 families from four higher taxa (Polychaeta, Mollusca, Crustacea and Echinodermata)
were recorded. Mollusca was the major group followed by Crustaceans, Polychaetes and
Echinodermata. The 18 dominant families observed in the present study were Mytilidae,
Nuculidae, Veneridae (class Bivalvia), Trochidae, Rentusidae, Ringiculidae, Rissoidae (class
Gastropoda), Dentaliidae (class Scaphopoda), Corophiidae, Oedicerotidae (order Amphipoda),
Bodotriidae (order Cumacea), Orbiniidae, Nephtylidae, Glyceridae, Nereidae, Hesionidae,
Spionidae (class Polychaeta) and Ophiuridae (class Ophiuroidea). The highest total abundance of
macrobenthos (7676.8 ind/m2) was found at Teluk Bahang, while the lowest (4491.32 ind/m2)
was observed at Pantai Acheh. High organic matter (16.43%) was recorded at 200 m distance
from the shore. The measured water quality parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen,
conductivity, salinity, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, orthophosphate and total suspended solids (TSS)
did not differ significantly among the 4 sampling locations (ANOVA, p> 0.05). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using the Euclidean distance showed the presence of 3 main
components based on water quality and sediment quality, and distribution and abundance of
macrobenthos. The macrobenthic abundance (r=0.73), Mollusca (r=0.69), Polychaete (r=0.67),
Crustacean (r=0.3) and Echinodermata (r=0.6) were significantly correlated with the first
component (including: transect, organic matter and sediment particle size). This study indicated
that particle size along the sampling locations affected the distribution of the macrobenthos.
Most of the coastal region was covered with silt and clay (more than 90%). The crustacean
abundance was also correlated with the second component (temperature, dissolved oxygen,
salinity and total suspended solid) (r=0.27). Macrobenthic assemblages differed among transects
and between sampling locations, which were clearly explained by non-metric multi-dimensional
scaling (nMDS). The macrobenthic feeding guild comprised of 40.83 % carnivorous, 38.26 %
deposit feeders, 6.63 % predator and 14.28 % suspension feeders. The non-supervised ANN
algorithm has separated Ecological Quality Status of coastal waters of Penang National Park into
two cluster visualized, slightly polluted (at T1of Teluk Bahang) and unpolluted (most of
sampling transects).