Changes of Macrobenthic Diversity and Functional Groups in Saltmarsh Habitat under Different Seasons and Climatic Variables from a Subtropical Coast

Shayla Sultana Mely, Mohammad Belal Hossain (), Mahabubur Rahman, Mohammed Fahad Albeshr and Takaomi Arai
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Shayla Sultana Mely: Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Mohammad Belal Hossain: Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Mahabubur Rahman: Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Mohammed Fahad Albeshr: Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Takaomi Arai: Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE 1410, Brunei Darussalam

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Saltmarsh is one of the most productive coastal habitats in the marine environment, and the macroinvertebrate community is crucial to its ecology and productivity. These productive ecosystems are currently under threat due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. However, macroinvertebrate communities and their functionality in saltmarsh from subtropical coastal areas have previously been largely ignored. In this study, we aimed to elucidate (i) the diversity and community assemblages, (ii) trophic structure, and (iii) changes of macroinvertebrate diversity under different seasons and climatic variables from a subtropical saltmarsh habitat. A total of 29 taxa in the eight (8) major groups were recorded in both seasons, with polychaetes being dominant (64%) in monsoon and crustaceans (50%) in post-monsoon. Among the trophic groups identified, surface deposit feeders and omnivores were dominant, accounting for 78.52% of the total groups. The highest value of diversity index (2.04) was observed at station S3 in monsoon and the lowest (1.408) at station S2 in post-monsoon. Strong seasonal variability was confirmed by two-way ANOVA and PERMANOVA, and SIMPER analysis identified that shrimp larvae ( Macrobrachium sp.) were the taxa that contributed the most to grouping patterns between areas and seasons. In addition, non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) revealed a great dissimilarity of macrobenthic faunal assemblages among the study stations and seasons. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results revealed that the climatic factors water temperature, salinity, and alkalinity variation influenced the benthic community diversity.

Keywords: saltmarsh; macrobenthos; community structure; seasonal variation; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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