Sundaravarman. K , A. Saravanakumar , M. Pravinkumar , K. Kathiresan

Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai – 608 502, Tamilnadu, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 16   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0016
Received: 21 Dec., 2014    Accepted: 28 Feb., 2015    Published: 18 Mar., 2015

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.

Sundaravarman et al., 2015, Seasonal Variation of Environmental Factors Influencing Benthic Macrofaunal Diversity in Parangipettai and Cuddalore Coast (Southeast coast of India), International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.5, No.16 1-12 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0016)

An attempt was made with the diversity and seasonal variations of macrobenthic fauna and associated environmental factors influencing the benthic community in the inshore waters of southern Indian coast. Four seasonal collections were made from January – 2013 to December – 2013, such as, post-monsoon, summer, pre-monsoon and monsoon in the inshore waters of Parangipettai and Cuddalore coastal region of Southeast, India. Atmospheric temperature 28 – 34.5^oC, water temperature 27.5 – 34^oC, salinity 27 – 34psu and pH 7.6 – 8.2 were recorded maximum at summer season and minimum at monsoon season. Dissolved oxygen rangers between 4.03 and 6.16 mg/l^-1were maximum at monsoon season and minimum at summer season. Altogether, 24 infaunal samples (Peterson grab 0.256 m²)were collected which revealed the occurrence of 86 species representing five diverse groups. Polychaetes were the dominant group (56%), followed by Amphipods (12%), Gastropods and Isopods (9%) and Bivalves (8%). Diversity (H’log2) ranged between 4.030 (Cuddalore, monsoon) and 4.304 (Parangipettai, postmonsoon). K- Dominance curve drawn paralleled the trend of diversity indices. Cluster and MDS showed the similarity infaunal composition between stations and seasons. Some polychaetes were abundant more than other species i.e.g., Arabella mutans, Capitella capitata, Cossura coasta, Lumbrineris sp. and Pisionidens indica they are indicating that the particular area polluted with industrial waste.

Physico-chemical variation; Macrofauna; Sediment characteristic; Heavy metal