Sakrı İBRAHİM, Wan Mohd Rauhan WAN HUSSIN, Zaleha KASSIM, Zuliatini Mohamad JONI, Mohamad Zaidi ZAKARIA, Sukree HAJISAMAE

Seasonal abundance of benthic communities in coral areas of Karah Island, Terengganu, Malaysia

Benthic communities are important to marine ecosystem and form important food source for most marine organisms especially fish. Study of this biota is important as it could be an indicator to overall aquatic productivity. Benthic communities in Karah Island, Terengganu, Malaysia were studied to find their relationship with different monsoon seasons and types of substrate. Surveys were conducted 4 times; two times each during pre-monsoon phase (September - October) and post-monsoon phase (April - May). Samples of benthic fauna in coral and non-coral areas were taken using a hand corer and Smith McIntyre grab respectively. In-situ measurements were done to obtain physico-chemical parameters of salinity, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen. The results show that both macrobenthos and meiobenthos were more dominant during pre-monsoon season (25,836.8 inds.$m^{-2}$ and 137,496.8 inds.$m^-2$, respectively) as compared to post-monsoon season (21,573.1 inds.$m^{-2}$ and 100,404.6 inds.$m^{-2}$ , respectively). In terms of family, Polychaeta was the most abundant macrobenthos (26,300.2 inds.$m^{-2}$ or 55.5%) while Harpacticoida was the most abundant meiobenthos (97,910.1 inds.$m^{-2}$ or 41.2%) during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Benthic fauna were found in higher amounts in coral areas and decreases with distance from shoreline.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

çökelti, tuzluluk, Güney Çin Denizi, mevsimsel bolluk, Harpacticoida, Malezya, Polychaeta, mercan

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