Dimpal Sanghvi¹ , Nandini Ray Chaudhury² , B. K. Jain¹

1. M. G. Science Institute, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
2. Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 66   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0066
Received: 27 May, 2014    Accepted: 13 Jul., 2014    Published: 11 Nov., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sanghvi et al., 2014, Spatial and Temporal Profiling of Macroalgal Groups on Shore Platform: A case study from Dwarka, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.56 1-11 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0056)

Dwarka coast of Gujarat state from India has a stable shore platform. For this study, the shore platform was divided into three sections: i) northern, ii) central and iii) southern. Macroalgae growing on this shore platform were surveyed based on systematic random sampling for three months in sequence (April, June and October, 2013). On this site, total 36 taxa of macroalgae were identified through intensive fieldwork/in situ survey based on Line Intercept Transect and Quadrate based methods. An overall analysis of the field data so far collected reveals that Chlorophyta dominates in the subtidal zone while Ochrophyta (Phaeophyta) dominates in rock pools near the cliff base as their preferred habitats. Rhodophyta showed a seasonal predominance during June. Iyengaria stellata was found in all the three months. The result obtained in this study provides an insight to understand the macroalgae habitat zonation on the shore platform and can be useful to support conservationof this study site as a rich macroalgae habitat of Indian Coast.

Macroalgae; Spatial and temporal variation; Stages of growth; Shore platform; Dwarka coast