QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION AND MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF FLORA AND FAUNA OF BULEJI AREA OF KARACHI COAST

Abstract

Karachi coast is rich in flora and fauna like any other coast of the world. The present study deals with the quantitative and multivariate analysis of the biota found at Buleji area, Karachi coast. Three different habitats i.e. intertidal rocky shore, pools and sandy beach were selected for quantitative sampling. Macro flora and fauna were counted and collected while the fresh weight of seaweeds found on sandy beach was also obtained. The species diversity and multivariate analysis (cluster analysis and ordination) were applied on data. The results report twenty species on sandy beach, nineteen species in rocky pools and thirty three species on rocky area. The highest species diversity was recorded from sandy beach (3.623) while least (2.186) was found in pools. The results of the cluster analysis indicated two large groups on the basis of pure seaweeds on the sandy beach and the mixed flora and fauna from rocky shore and rocky pools. Two main groups were clearly separated out on ordination plane (axis 1 and 2). Some recommendations are proposed for the improvement and future research in this connection