Colonization studies on seagrass-associated fauna in Tablolong, Indonesia using artificial seagrass and defaunated sediment

• Main Author: Merryanto, Yohanes
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Seagrasses > Indonesia > Tablolong; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/231
• Institution: De La Salle University

In order to test the ability of the various seagrass-associated life forms - macroepifauna, meioepifauna, macroinfauna, meioinfauna and meioepiphyte fauna - to colonize empty habitat patches, field experiments were conducted over 3 months in Tablolong, Indonesia, using plastic seagrass mimics and sun-dried defaunated sediment. Colonization was monitored (1) over a time series of 183 days, (2) over a distance series of 5 to 15 m from the putative source pool of colonists, and (3) in relation to leaf surface area. Water quality parameters were monitored using the technique of principal components analysis (PCA). Colonization was recorded after D 1 and most reached a peak in abundance within the first week, continued to fluctuate in densities and tended to diminish in number after the peak(s). Artificial seagrass units (ASUs) emplaced close (5 m) to the boundary line between the bare-sand and the seagrass areas tended to have a higher average density compared to the far series (15 m). Meioepiphyte diversity on small seagrass mimic leaves was lower than on large leaves. Meioepiphyte density on small seagrass mimic leaves was higher than on large leaves. Temperature had a positive effect on the presence of colonizer macro- and meioinfauna, and a negative effect on the settling of meioepiphyte pioneers on small and large seagrass mimic leaves in both bare-sand and seagrass areas. Therefore it can be concluded that (1) colonization over a longer period of time (83 d) was correlated with faunal density, (2) there was no pronounced effect of distance on faunal density, (3) larger leaf surface area did not affect the average density of the meioepiphyte, and (4) among the water quality parameters, only temperature revealed a correlation with the spatial distribution of fauna – positive with respect to meioepiphyte fauna, negative with respect to meio- and macroinfauna. In effect, sufficient evidence has been gathered to show that diversity and density of faunal groups are regulated by the time factor, however, the effect of distance and leaf surface area remains for further investigation.