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General Session 4: Marine environment, ecosystem & sustainability |
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Elucidating heterogeneity of free-living nematode communities in geographically distant mangrove ecosystems in link with prevailing environmental gradients
GS4-05
Kapuli Gani Mohamed Thameemul Ansari* , Integrative Taxonomy and Microbial Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur ¨C 741246, Nadia, West Bengal, India
Punyasloke Bhadury, Integrative Taxonomy and Microbial Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur ¨C 741246, Nadia, West Bengal, India
Presenter Email: ansari.cas@gmail.com
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| Mangroves are one of the most important coastal biotopes in terms of ecology and socio-economics. The salient features of mangrove ecosystems include interconnected network of numerous creeks, rivers and rivulets along with semi-diurnal tides which influence prevailing physical, chemical and biological attributes. Free-living nematodes are highly abundant and diverse in various coastal biotopes including mangroves and play important role in benthic production. The present study aims to elucidate heterogeneity patterns of free-living nematode communities along with prevailing environmental gradients across geographically distant mangrove sites. Sediment samples were collected from four different geographically distant mangrove sites (Latitudes 10¡ã, 11¡ã, 16¡ã and 21¡ãN) located along the Bay of Bengal, India during the month of October 2015. The distant geographical locations of the studied mangroves exhibited variability in terms of environmental parameters and was also reflected in terms of free-living nematode community structure and diversity patterns. Statistical analysis on the free-living nematode community data revealed differences between studied geographically distant mangrove sites that were greater than sampling stations within each mangrove site. This suggests that prevailing environmental gradients along with increased food availability and substrate complexity facilitate free-living nematode species heterogeneity with defined functionality. Furthermore, prevailing environmental gradients were responsible for observed homogeneity and heterogeneity of nematode community structures which was also explained by the fact that 53% of all mangrove nematode species were found to be restricted to one mangrove site, whereas only 9% species were cosmopolitan and found across all the four mangrove sites. In addition, trophic guild analysis of nematode community exhibited heterogeneity patterns which were found to be linked to available food resources across these four mangrove sites. This study demonstrates a preliminary conceptual scheme towards understanding the interaction between free-living nematodes and environmental gradients in mangrove ecosystems. Moreover it also reflects that habitat and substrate complexity across geographically distant mangrove sites have not been thoroughly understood which also in turn limits our ability towards understanding of heterogeneity in free-living nematode community within and across distant mangrove ecosystems. |
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