COASTAL MARINE ECOSYSTEM Assessment of Macrobenthic Flora and Fauna in the Intertidal Area at Dalipuga Beach, Iligan City, Philippines A Scientific Paper Presented to Prof. Karyl Marie F. Dagoc of the Department of Biological Sciences College of Science and Mathematics MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology Iligan City In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in Bio 107.2 – General Ecology Laboratory Second Semester 2015-2016 Presented by Mitchelle Dawn E. Paye
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COASTAL MARINE ECOSYSTEM
Assessment of Macrobenthic Flora and Fauna in the Intertidal Area at Dalipuga Beach, Iligan City, Philippines
A Scientific Paper Presented to Prof. Karyl Marie F. Dagocof the Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science and MathematicsMSU-Iligan Institute of Technology
Iligan City
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements inBio 107.2 – General Ecology Laboratory
Second Semester 2015-2016
Presented byMitchelle Dawn E. Paye
May 19, 2016
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The researcher would like to express her heartfelt gratitude to all the people, who in one
way or another have guide, assisted, and helped her in the success of this scientific paper;
To Professor Karyl Marie Fabricante - Dagoc for the guidance and help in doing the field
sampling.
And above all, to the Almighty Father, for giving His strength, hope, and wisdom all throughout
the process of making this scientific paper.
Mitch
ABSTRACT
Marine ecosystems are a complex of habitats defined by the wide range of physical,
chemical, and geological variations that are found in the sea. Marine ecosystems are important to
humankind both ecologically and economically, providing numerous vital goods and services, and
supporting the processes that sustain the entire biosphere. Unfortunately, in spite of their widely
recognized value, human activities are putting marine ecosystems under pressure. The objectives
of this study is to assess the macrobenthic flora and fauna species to correlate its relative
abundance to the physico-chemical parameters and to determine the ecological indices of the
area. By the use of transect line and quadrat, this study was being conducted. Two quadrats (
1m2) was laid in the transect line. One quadrat was placed in the 2-meters and the other one is in
the 6-meters transect line. The species found were collected for identification. The physico-
chemical parameters were measured with two repeated trials using a thermometer for the water
and soil temperature,slingshot psychrometer for humidity, and pH paper for the pH. Sediment
grain size analysis was conducted. Water and soil temperature was found to be 26°C -27°C and
25°C -26°C, respectively. Humidity is 26%, it was sand and gravel, and the water has a pH of 7
and 8. Salinity is 31 part per thousand. Thus, it was normal. Results in microbenthic flora show
that only one species of algae was found in the area (Phaeophyta) and seagrass were also
found. Macrobenthic fauna was absent. Ecological indices acquired an unsatisfying result due to
the limitation of data.
INTRODUCTION
Zisenis, M. (2010) defines marine ecosystems as a complex of habitats with wide range
of physical, chemical, and geological variations that are found in the sea. Habitats range from
highly productive near-shore regions to the deep sea floor inhabited only by highly specialized
organismsThe marine ecosystem is the largest ecosystem after the whole of Planet Earth
because water accounts for more than 70 % of Earth’s surface. The marine environment, our
oceans and seas, account for more than 97 % of that. The marine ecosystem, in addition to the
temperate and tropical oceans, includes the shorelines, with mud flats, rocky and sandy shores,
tide pools, barrier islands, estuaries, salt marshes, and mangrove forests making up the shoreline
segment. It also includes intertidal zones, lagoons, coral reefs, the deep sea, and the sea floor.
They can be contrasted with freshwater considered ecosystems because it supports a great
diversity of life and variety of habitats.
Coastal ecosystems are areas where land and water join to create an environment with a
distinct structure, diversity, and flow of energy. They are home to many different types of plants
and animals.
However, coastal ecosystems are also very sensitive to changes in the environment, and
there is concern that some areas are now struggling to maintain their diversity due to human
activity, the introduction of non-native species, and other factors. In addition, Cinches, V. (2013)
conclude that destructive fishing activities such as dynamite and cyanide fishing, muro-ami,
bottom trawling and overfishing are depleting our sea’s resources without giving it time to recover.
Marine life is also being threatened by climate change which causes coral bleaching and
acidification.it also encounters pollution and eutrophication.
According to Kingsford, M. (2016), marine organisms are not distributed evenly
throughout the oceans. Variations in characteristics of the marine environment create different
habitats and influence what types of organisms will inhabit them. The availability of light, water
depth, proximity to land, and topographic complexity all affect marine habitats.
The availability of light affects which organisms can inhabit a certain area of a marine
ecosystem. The greater the depth of the water, the less light can penetrate until below a certain
Only Phaeophyta class was found and it was identified as Padina gymnospora based on
its physical characteristics. Thallus was yellow-brown color, and became dark-brown color when
dried. Thallus was upright with rhizoid holdfast, fan shape, thick membrane-like texture, 5-20 cm
in height and 4-17 cm in width. White hairs were concentric arranged on the two surfaces of
thallus, and brown fluffs were covered over the base to middle part of thallus. According to the
study of Wei-Lung Wang (2010), it can be found in 2-3 m depth of water. It is distributed in Japan,
Korea, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan and India.
Seagrass was also abundant. It was identified as Heterozostera tasmanica based on its physical
characteristics. Usually occurs subtidally in shallow coastal waters to about 8 m deep but also
found in deeper, clear oceanic water (Robertson 1984). Den Hartog (1970) described branching
of the rhizome in H. tasmanica as sympodial and used this as a diagnostic character.
The presence of seagrass indicates that the water is not polluted and disturbed. The vast
biodiversity and sensitivity to changes in water quality inherent in seagrass communities makes
seagrasses an important species to help determine the overall health of coastal ecosystems.
Seagrasses provide food, habitat, and nursery areas for numerous vertebrate and invertebrate
species. Seagrasses help to stabilize fine sediments with their leaf and root systems and maintain
water quality.
Marine grasses, succulents and algae have a vital role in providing shelter and food for
foraging aquatic species such as fish and crabs. They also help hold the soil together, reduce the
impact of wind and waves and act as a buffer to nutrients coming from the land.
Table 5 shows the result of ecological indices from the computation using PAST
software.
Table 5. Ecological indices
Ecological indices Station 1 Station 2
Diversity (1-D) 0 0
Similarity 0 0
Evenness 1 1
Dominance 1 1
Simpson’s index of diversity(1-D) computed that the probability of two individuals belong
to the same category. It ranges from 0-1 and the greater the value, the greater the diversity.
Therefore, there is no diversity between the organism from station 1 and station 2 since in station
1, only one species was found and in station 2 as well. It was found out that there is also no
similarity between the species in two stations. The evenness pertains to how similar the
abundance between the organisms. This study is limited because the data that we have gathered
is very limited and not enough, then errors must arise. The result showed that the evenness
between organism are very similar since it has the value of 1. Both of them have also equal
dominance in the area.
CONCLUSION
Plot and transect sampling is very important in conducting an ecological study.
Paleontological Statistics(PAST) software also can be used in measuring ecological diversity.
The physico-chemical parameters results were in good condition (salinity,pH,
temperature, humidity) and the weather were in good condition too. This simply implies that the
ecosystem is not disturbed by some factors such as global warming and human activities.
Seagrass is very numerous and dominates the area and this will indicate that the water is very
healthy. However, based on the factors mentioned, the species found in the area does not show
the expected result since only macrobenthic flora was present and the macrobenthic fauna was
absent. Although there was no macrobenthic fauna that was found, it does not mean that the area
is not suitable for their survival.
In studying ecological communities, some indices are used to help assess the overall
health of the ecosystem. This includes species richness, dominance, similarity, and evenness.
There is a weakness in this study since the data that was gathered for ecological diversity are not
sufficient and is very limited. Thus, it is very possible that when the proper sampling was
conducted, there could be a macrobenthic fauna that was found.
A sufficient data must be gathered in order to achieve a better result. Ecologists must
ensure that in the gathering of data, one has to observed the proper sampling in order to avoid
some errors and biases on the study.
REFERENCES
Anderson, G. (2008). Seawater Composition. Marine Science
Cinches, V. (2013). Philippine Seas. Ocean Defender, 1
Hoyle B., & Duncan, L. (2009). Oceans, Tropical. Water Encyclopedia: Science and Issues
Kennedy J. (2014). 3 Types of Marine Algae: Seaweeds come in brown, red and green
Kingsford, M. J. (2016). Marine ecosystem . Encyclopedia Britannica .
Robertson, E.L. (1984). Seagrasses. In: The marine benthic flora of Southern Australia. Part 1.
Tyrone, T. (2016). Marine Habitat Destruction. National Geographic.
Villaroza, S.M.(2015). Coastal Marine Ecosystem Scientific Paper
Williams, C. B. (1950). The application of the logarithmic series to the frequency of occurence of plant species in quadrats. Journal of Ecology, 38: 107-138
Wei-Lung Wang (2010). Padina Gymnospora (Kutzing) Sonder. Algae of Taiwan
Zisenis, M. (2010). Marine ecosystems. European Environment Agency, 2-3.