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Identification and Density of animals’ communities on the artificial reefs in the coastal waters (Hendijan) of the Khuzestan province
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Foozieh Esmaili   , Mojgan Khodadadi , Gholamreza Eskandari |
| Science and research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran |
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Abstract: (6918 Views) |
| This research was done to study on the communities' structure of benthic animals' growth on the artificial reefs, constructed in Hendijan coastal waters in Khuzestan in the North West of the Persian Gulf. The seasonal samples of attached organisms were collected from spring to winter during 2010. One station (D) in older site and three stations (A, B, C) in newer reef site were selected. Random sampling was carried out by using quadrate (25×25 cm) via diving. During survey, the number of 59 species of attached animals belonging to 13 animal groups, including, 9 species of cnidarian, 8 species of sponges, 7 species of Gastropod, 8 species of Bivalve, 4 species of polychaetes and 17 species of Crustacean were identified. In studied artificial reef according to biomass, soft coral were dominant group which include 92 percent of total biota, and the species Plumarella sp. was the dominant species. However appoint of abundance the species pisidia sp. from anomura crabs was the most abundant species especially in station A and D. Different kinds of Cnidarian such as Dendronephthya sp., Sarcophyton sp. and Lobophyllia sp. were observed in station D for the first time. The polychates, Mollusk and some of crustacean and Echinodermata species were observed in lower abundance in comparison with previous studies. This results show that communities have been changed along the time. According- to MDS analysis, based on Bray-Curtis similarity, different stations presented seasonal variation based on identified species-biomass. According to the Cluster analysis based on the mean biomass in the different seasons, following stations D,B,A and C were separated according to following similarity percentages 55, 75 and 80 percent respectively. According to the results, there were not significant differences between station that can be due to similarity in structural characteristics such as bottom slope and age of reefs. The mean abundance in spring was significantly higher than other seasons which can be due to biotic factors such as life cycle and reproduction season. In the present study with increasing biomass in the biotic communities on artificial reefs, the enhancement of fish stock must be expected. These substrates can be reduced the pressure on destructed which is the opportunity for rehabilitation. |
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| Keywords: Artificial habitat, Attaching animals, Abundance, Biomass, Coverage Percentage, Hendijan |
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Full-Text [PDF 2263 kb]
(2484 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2014/02/6 | Accepted: 2014/02/6 | Published: 2014/02/6
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