Study on the Meiofauna Community Structure in Sajafi Shores as the Bio-Indicator of Environmental Pollution

Abstract

In order to investigate the health of the coastal environments, we collected Meiofauna assemblages along intertidal muddy shores of Sajafi in the northwest of Persian Gulf in two seasons (February 2013 and July 2014) from three horizontal transects. Meiofauna are the metazoan components of the benthos, defined by their body size (<500 μm) and are the most diversified elements of the marine biota. They are so sensitive against adverse environmental changes and represent the ecological conditions. Environmental factors (temperature, salinity, DO, and pH), diversity and distribution of Meiofauna and their relationship with each other and with the grain size and TOM in both cold and warm seasons were evaluated. In this study, 56 meiofaunal species were identified in which foraminifera were abundant. The result of Shannon-Wiener in summer 2014 showed the highest value (H ' = 3.148) while the lowest value occurred in winter 2014 (H ' = 1.5). At the same time, the highest and lowest values of Simpson index ( λ ) were 0.43 and 0.05 respectively. Sajafi area, according to the Welch model, has a moderate (H ' = 1 - 3) to unpolluted (H ' > 3) condition compared to neighboring regions.