Diversity and Functional Patterns of Benthic Amphipods in the Coralline Intertidal Zones of a Marine National Park, India
Tatiparthi Srinivas, Soniya Sukumaran, S. Neetu, K. Ramesh Babu
Abstract
Coralline intertidal habitats of marine protected areas, are important model systems to investigate species diversity and ecological functioning of benthic communities. Spatial variability of amphipod species composition and functional traits were studied over a three year period during the summer season at five intertidal transects of the Gulf of Kachchh Marine Protected Area, India. A total of 22,706 individuals, comprising 71 species belonging to 40 genera and 23 families were identified. Aoridae, Dexaminidae, Eriopisidae, Lysianassidae and Maeridae were the best represented families (68.2% of total abundance). Distinct spatial patterns in the amphipod assemblage structure and functional traits were observed along the horizontal and vertical axes. The results demonstrated that the amphipod assemblage functioning was greatly influenced by the vertical gradient, with generally higher functional diversity in the lower intertidal zones suggesting increased diversity in resource use strategies, whereas the upper zones showed very little functional diversity possibly due to the prevalence of environmental filtering. As higher species and functional diversities promote better resource partitioning and resilience of the ecosystem, these results are important for the management of marine protected areas facing the dual challenges of global climate change and anthropogenic pressures.