ANALYTICAL STUDY ON WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS AFFECTING SPECIES ABUNDANCY OF SEA URCHIN DIADEMA SETOSUM AND ECHINOTHRIX CALAMARIS IN KEPULAUAN SERIBU, DKI JAKARTA

• Main Author: Rahmadhani Indraputri, Zahra
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/36912
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Sea urchins are Echinoderms from the class Echinoid. This benthic organism provides many benefits to humans. Economically, the sea urchin's gonads are consumable and traded as a high-value commodity. Sea urchins also have the potential to be an indicator species for the wetland environment. The lack of research about sea urchin in Indonesia despite the benefits they provide, calls for more studies on how sea urchin interacts with their environment. This study serves the purpose of determining water quality parameters that affect the abundance of two sea urchin species, i.e., Diadema setosum and Echinothrix calamaris in Kepulauan Seribu, DKI Jakarta. Species abundances and water quality data were collected with a quadran transect method at six different islands. Statistical test by PCA indicated that water around Untung Jawa Island differs from other islands, with higher turbidity, ammonia, nitrate, and orthophosphate. Other islands have similar water condition. Statistical test by RDA indicated that turbidity, orthophosphate, pH, and water temperature affect species abundance of Diadema setosum, while dissolved oxygen and salinity affect species abundance of Echinothrix calamaris. Pearson Correlation tests further confirmed results that there is a strong negative correlation between species abundance of Diadema setosum with water turbidity (r=-0.905; p=0.013) and orthophosphate (r=-0.9; p=0.015). The test did not show significant relation between abundance of Diadema setosum and Echinothrix calamaris with other water quality parameters (p>0.050). Therefore, this study concludes that species abundance of Diadema setosum is affected by turbidity and orthophosphate; higher concentration will lower Diadema setosum’s abundances; while abundances of Echinothrix calamaris was not significantly affected by water quality parameters measured in this study.