BIODIVERSITY IN BENTHIC COMMUNITIES OF CHINNA CREEK

Abstract

Chinna creek covers an area of about 6 square Kilometer which extended from Boat Basin to Native Jetty Bridge and joins, Kimari. It is about 5.0 Km long, 300 to 500 m wide with the depth ranges from 1 m to 3 m. The quantitative faunal analysis conducted in this study was performed to determine the abundance and distribution of faunal groups and sub groups. Observations were based on three successive samplings in the year 2006. The individuals found from the study sites belonged to four invertebrate groups i.e. Annelida, Mollusca, Nematoda and Arthropoda. Numbers of individuals of Nematodes (63.62%) were found highest from all the stations followed by Cirripedia (18.71%), Pycnogonida (6.44%), Acarina (6.10), Copepoda (2.36%), Collembola (1.20%), Gastropoda (0.41%), Polychaeta (0.30%), Oligochaeta (0.26%), Coleoptera (0.19%), and Arachnida (0.15%). Remaining collection also included few unidentified specimens and unidentified larval stages. Faunal abundance at Chinna Creek with presence of indicator species in dominance and presence and absence pattern of sensitive, facultative and tolerant groups according to their abilities showed that one possible reason for this pattern of faunal diversity is due to heavy pollution load that is entering in the area