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Seasonal Zonation pattern of Meiobenthic Fauna of an Intertidal belt in the coastal area of Midnapore(East), West Bengal, India

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha-721428, West Bengal, INDIA
  • 2Department of Zoology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore (West)-721102, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 4, Issue (9), Pages 45-52, September,22 (2015)

Abstract

Meiobenthos represnts one of the important coastal faunal biodiversity components by virtue of their abundance and unique distributional patterns. They play vital role in the complex food web dynamics of any marine-estuarine-coastal environment and thereby become an important subject in marine ecology research. Present study was initiated at one intertidal belt alongside the coast of Midnapore( East) district, West Bengal, India in order to record the seasonal dynamics of meiobenthic fauna along with cross-shore and depth gradients. The study has revealed that nematodes shared major proportion of meiobenthic faunal components followed by protozoan ciliophora. Temperature, salinity and the texture of the soil have been found to play a key role in determining both horizontal and vertical distribution of meiobenthic fauna. High tide level zone tended to harbour maximum number of meiobenthic fauna than the low tide level. Highest density and diversity of meiobenthic assemblages as documented in the surface layer was supposed to be due to the exposure of different nutritional sources and other physical factors especially tidal exposure and innundation which are required for the growth and survival of the biotic components. The upper part of the intertidal zone has appeared to be the most effective zone to study the community interactions among meiofauna.

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