Animal diversity in the mangrove forest at Bichitrapur of Balasore district, Odisha, India- A case study

Authors

  • Santanu Mitra
     Zoological survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata – 700016, West Bengal
  • Sayantani Shaw
     Zoological survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata – 700016, West Bengal
  • Subhrendu Sekhar Mishra
     Zoological survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata – 700016, West Bengal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v119/i1/2019/122954

Keywords:

Epi-Fauna, Habitat, In-Fauna, Mangrove Plants, Odisha

Abstract

The present work forms the preliminary study of ecosystem of Bichitrapur in Balasore district, though it covers a small area. A total 56 species of estuarine animals are found in the locality. They are normally mangrove associate animals, found in and over mangrove plants as borers or non-borers. These animals are either harmful to mangrove plants or opportunists by depending on mangroves for shelter or feeding. The dominating group in this mangrove is found to be the Molluscs, comprising 8 species of borers of mangrove-wood and 19 species as opportunistic epi-fauna. Crustaceans are the second diverse group in this ecosystem, represented by 13 species of crabs, 6 species of boring Isopods and a single species of Amphipod. The other epifaunal components comprise a few species of Cnidaria, Polychaetea, Echinoderm and some fishes, which are found on 7 species of mangrove plants in this ecosystem. But they seem to be non-specific to any mangrove plant species. An in-depth study of these faunal components in ecological viewpoints may provide pathway towards conservation and management of the mangrove ecosystems.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Downloads

Published

2019-03-23

How to Cite

Mitra, S., Shaw, S., & Sekhar Mishra, S. (2019). Animal diversity in the mangrove forest at Bichitrapur of Balasore district, Odisha, India- A case study. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 119(1), 9–17. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v119/i1/2019/122954

Issue

Volume 119, Issue 1, 2019

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Chakarborty, S.K. and Choudhury, A. 1985. Distributions of fiddler crabs in Sunderban mangrove estuarine complex, India. In: proc. Nat. Symp. Biol. Util. Cons. Mangroves (Ed. L.J. Bhoslae): 467-472.

Chakarborty, S.K. and Choudhury, A. 1992a. Population ecology of fiddler crabs of the Mangrove estuarine complex of Sunderbans, India. Trop. Ecol., 33(1): 78-88.

Chakarborty, S.K. and Choudhury, A. 1992b. Ecological studies on the zonation of brachyuran crabs in a virgin mangrove island of Sunderbans, India. J. mar. biol. Ass. India, 34(1 & 2): 189-194.

Dev Roy, M.K. and Das, A.K. 2000. Taxonomy, ecology and distribution pattern of the Brachyuran crabs of mangrove ecosystem in Andaman Islands. Rec. zool. Surv. India, Occ. Paper No. 185: 1-211.

Dey, A. 2006. Handbook on mangrove associate molluscs of sundarbans. Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata :1-96.

Kathiresan, K. and Rajendran, N. 2005. Mangrove ecosystem of the Indian Ocean region. Indian Journal of marine science. 34(1): 104113.

Misra, A. and Choudhury, A. 1985. Polychaetous annelids from the mangrove swamps of Sunderbans, India. In: Pro. Nat. Symp. Biol. Util. Cons. Mangroves (Ed. L.J. Bhoslae): 448-452.

Mitra, S., Misra, A. and Pattanayak, J.G. 2010. Intertidal Macrofauna of Subarnarekha Estuary (Balasore: Orissa). Rec. zool. Surv. India, Occ. Paper No. 313: 1-135.

Nagelkerken, I., Blaber, S.J.M., Bouillon, S., Green, P., Haywood, M., Kirton, L.G., Meynecke, J.-O., Pawlik, J., Penrose, H.M., Sasekumar, A. and Somerfield, P.J. 2008. The habitat function of mangroves for terrestrial and marine fauna: A review. Aquatic Botany, 89: 155-185. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2007.12.007.

Nayak, L. 1996. Marine wood-borers of Gopalpur Port, east coast of India with a note on their control measure. Journal of Environmental Research, 6(4): 146-152.

Odum, W.E. and Heald, E.J. 1975. The detritus-based food web of an estuarine mangrove community. In L.E. Cronin, ed. Estuarine Research. New York, Academic Press, Inc.: 265-286.

Pal, A.K. 2002. Coastal Geomorphology and Environment. ACB Publication, Kolkata: 1-342.

Parulekar, A.H. 1994. Benthic fauna of Mangrove environment. In: Deshmukh S.V. and Balaji V. (eds), Conervation of Mangrove forest genetic resources: a training manual: 253-255.

Patra K.C., Bhuina A.B. and Mitra, A. 1990. Ecology of macrobenthos in a tidal creek and adjoining mangroves in West Bengal, India. Environ. Ecol., 8(2): 539-547.

Radhakrishnan, C., Gopi, K.C and Palot, M.J. 2006. Mangroves and their faunal associates in Kerala. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occational paper No., 246: 1-81.

Sunil Kumar, R. 2000. A review of Biodiversity status of soil dwelling organisms in Indian mangroves. Zoos Print Journal, 15(3): 221-227.

Sunil Kumar R. 2001. A checklist of Soil-Dwelling Polychaetous annelids from some Indian mangrove habitat. Zoos Print Journal, 16(3): 439-441.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>