Survey of intertidal communities in Tamil Nadu

Coastal ecosystems, especially intertidal ecosystems, face the brunt of natural and human disturbance. Due to their differential tolerance and restricted movement, intertidal benthic fauna are among the most common organisms used to assess anthropogenic impacts and are excellent indicators of environmental stress. With comparatively longer life spans and as key elements in the food web of aquatic systems, they can integrate the effects of the environment. In a two-year study, as part of the ecology component of the Post-Tsunami Environment Initiative, a rapid survey of coastal inter-tidal communities was undertaken. The broad objectives of the study were to:

1. Create baseline data on which long-term monitoring of intertidal sandy shore ecosystems of the coasts of Tamil Nadu could be initiated.
2. Identify major threats to key coastal intertidal ecosystems such as sandy beaches and mudflats.
3. Understand macroecological patterns (between ecoregions and latitudes) in community composition, species richness and abundance of intertidal sandy shore fauna along the coast of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
4. Identify patterns in distribution, abundance and composition of intertidal nearshore communities over a gradient of human disturbances.
5. Identify species or communities that can act as indicators of disturbance in order to develop an indicator-based approach to monitor coastal ecosystem health in the future.

 

Investigators
Naveen Namboothri, Terenia Berlie, Anjana Mohan and Kartik Shanker

Publications

Mohan, A., T. Berlie, N. Namboothri and K. Shanker. 2008. Beyond the Tsunami: Macro and Mega Faunal Communities of Intertidal Ecosystems on the Tamil Nadu Coast, India UNDP/UNTRS, Chennai and ATREE, Bangalore, India.  p 52.