DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEAGRASS AND MACROBENTHIC INVERTEBRATES COMMUNITIES IN LIPI BEACH, PARI ISLAND, KEPULAUAN SERIBU

• Main Author: Fahmi Hakim, Mohammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/50974
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Seagrass meadows provide a habitat for various sea creatures, including macrobenthic invertebrates, which utilizes seagrass meadow as a place to survive, forage, and breed. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the species richness and coverage percentages of seagrass communities; (2) to determine the diversity and density of macrobenthic invertebrates; and (3) to analyze the relationship between seagrass and macrobenthic invertebrates communities. Seagrass and macrobenthic invertebrates data were collected in two different types of seagrass community (1st station is monospecific meadow and 2nd station is mixed meadow) at LIPI Beach, Pari Island, Kep. Seribu in January 2020. The species richness and coverage percentages of seagrass meadows were measured using quadratic plots, whereas macrobenthic invertebrates’ diversity and density were quantified based on samples taken using a PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) core sampler. Secondary data analysis was also used to determine the relationship between seagrass density and epifauna, a group of organisms which its niches intersects with macrobentic invertebrates’. Secondary data was retrieved from three seagrass meadow stations which were differentiated based on their density (A station was dense; B was moderate; and C was sparse) at the same location on Pari Island in May–June 2016. The species richness of seagrass in LIPI Beach in 2020 were consisted of three species, there were Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, and Halodule uninervis with the average coverage percentages of seagrass was 69.14%. The average coverage percentages of 1st station (monospecific Enhalus acoroides) was 62.34% and 2nd station (mixed of Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, and Halodule uninervis) was 75.93%. The overall diversity index of macrobentic invertebrates was 0.6287 and consisted of 13 families, which are dominated by Cerithiidae and Columbellidae. The diversity index of macrobentic invertebrates obtained at 1st and 2nd station were 0.5215 and 0.8331 respectively. The density of macrobentic invertebrates did not differ significantly between the 1st and the 2nd station (Mann-Whitney test; p = 0.357). The epifauna diversity index in 2016 based on secondary data at three stations—A, B, and C— with different seagrass densities were 2.1516, 1.9641, and 1.1516 respectively. The density of epifauna showed a significant difference between A, B, and C station (Kruskal-Wallis test; p = 0.011). The results of this study indicate that community type and seagrass density are positively related to the diversity and density of macrobentic invertebrates; meanwhile the different types of seagrass communities are not related to the density of macrobentic invertebrates.