Seasonal evaluation of abundance and biomass of macrobenthos communities in estuaries of Hormozgan Province (Tiab and Yek shabe)

Abstract

Introduction: Estuaries play an important role in environmental protection, biodiversity, flood control and drinking water supply and can play an important role in the production of biological materials and the production of medicinal plants.
Materials & Methods: Hormozgan province as a coastal province in the south of Iran has several wetlands. For this purpose, to identify and determine the abundance of Benthose of the international wetlands of the estuary of Shoor, Shirin and Minab in Tiab estuary and Yek shabe in 2016 seasonally. For this purpose, sampling of sediments was carried out using a Van veen grab with a cross section of
0.04 m2 in two estuaries.
Result: In this study, different groups of Macrobenthos (Annelida, Mollusca, Crustacea and other macrobenthos (Nemertea, Fish larvae and Echinodermata)) were identified. 23 families of Polychaetes, 5 families of Bivalves, 6 families of Gastropods, 7 families of Arthropods, 2 families of Foraminifera and 1 family of Sipuncula were also identified as 37 genera and 9 species of different families suitable for Tiab. Most abundance belonged to the Foraminifera and also the polychaetes had a considerable abundance. The results of this study showed that a total of polychaetes (17 families), bivalves (5 families), Gastropods (11 families), Scaphopoda (1 family), Arthropods (3 families) and 1 family of Foraminifera as well as 37 genera and 9 species were identified in Yek shabe estuary. Macrobenthos in Tiab estuary with an average of 9428±4376 n/m2 had a higher abundance and Yek shabe estuary with an average
of 2.78±.55 g/m2 had a higher weight macrobenthos in Tiab estuary with average of 9428±4376 n/m2 had higher abundance and in Yek shabe estuary with average of 2.78±.55 g/m2 had higher weight.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, in general, the abundance of macrobenthos in the Yek shabe estuary was lower than the Tiab estuary, while the weight of all organisms in the Yek shabe estuary was higher than the Tiab estuary. Although several factors affect the final weight of macrobenthos in an area, it seems that the conditions are suitable Yek shabe to provide a greater opportunity for the presence of macrobenthos, followed by feeding, growth and increase in body size and ultimately weight gain.