Community structure of harpacticoid copepods from the southeast continental shelf of India

Abstract

The study is the first attempt aiming to assess the composition and number of harpacticoid copepods in the southeast continental shelf of India (Bay of Bengal). 39 putative species of copepods were identified belongings to 29 genera in 17 families. Copepod density registered gradual decrease with increase in depth and sediment was sandy to silty nature. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), clearly documents significant variability within the abiotic variables with total variation of 92.9%. Copepod assemblages differ among depths regions and between transects clearly explained by non-metric multi dimensional scaling (nMDS) and conformed by ANOSIM analysis. Diversity indices evidently registered the significant changes in harpacticoid assemblage between the depths from various transects. Considering the great significance of harpacticoid assemblages in the environmental impact assessment studies, an intensification of sampling efforts should be pursued in this region in order to improve our knowledge on pollution disturbances.