title: Biodiversity and seasonal variation of macro-benthic infaunal community in the inshore waters of Parangipettai Coast.
abstract: This paper deals with the diversity and seasonal variations of macro-benthic infauna and associated environmental factors influencing the benthic community in the inshore waters of southern Indian coast. Four seasonal collections (2006-2007) were made at three different depths (5, 15 and 25 m) in the inshore waters of Pazhayar, Parangipettai and Cuddalore and at 5 m near State Industrial Promotion Council of Tamilnadu (SIPCOT), covering 10 stations in Bay of Bengal. Altogether, 80 infaunal samples (Van-veen grab 0.1 m(2)) were collected which revealed the occurrence of 132 species representing five diverse groups. Polychaetes were the dominant group (45%), followed by bivalves (31%) and gastropods (16%). Diversity (H'log2) was maximum (4.601) at Parangipettai 25 m during the pre-monsoon season, and the minimum (0.954) was in SIPCOT during monsoon. Multivariate analyses were used to define assemblages.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai, 608502, Tamilnadu, India. marinemicrobes@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sourav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.forename: Nityananda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Lyla
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ajmal Khan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D007194:India; D012621:Seasons