The Relationship Between Feeding Patch Quality and Fodder Species of Wild Elephants in the Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

We examined the relationship between the presence or absence of elephants in patches of land and the most common ecological factors, such as fodder species, water bodies, resting places, elephant movement trails, and soil types, across ten transect sites in the Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Bangladesh. By ground-truthing 360 line transects and 1080 quadrate blocks, we recorded a total of 184 fodder species, including 71 monocotyledons, 58 dicotyledons, and 55 domesticated plant species. Three categories of domesticated fodder species were recorded that consisted of 13 cultivated crops, 24 vegetables, and 18 homestead garden plants. We also applied dung-pile dissection techniques to a total of 250 dung piles between August 2018 and July 2019. Highly statistically significant differences among the abundances of different fodder species and presence of elephants were found across different transect sites. The average fodder species density was found to be 3.44 plant species per site per km2, while the elephant density was 0.63 individuals per site per km2. A significant strong correlation was found between fodder species density and the number of elephants among the transect sites (P = 0.02). The numbers of ground-recorded fodder species were higher than those found in dung piles. The presence of elephants across transect sites was influenced not only by fodder species but also by other ecological factors, such as water bodies, resting places, movement trails, and soil types.

Biodiversity of epiphytic periphyton in the leaves of the seagrass bed of Talawaan Bajo Estuary, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Ogi NLIM, Herawati EY, Risjani Y, Mahmudi M. 2021. Biodiversity of epiphytic periphyton in the leaves of the seagrass bed of Talawaan Bajo Estuary, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 4857-4864. This study aimed to analyze the diversity of epiphytic periphyton on the leaves of the seagrass bed of Talawaan Bajo estuary North Sulawesi Indonesia. The study was performed in three sampling points by using the line transect method with 50x50 cm2. The sampling points were located in front of the residential area, the mangrove forest, and in budo Cape. Seagrass and periphyton communities were analyzed for species density, relative frequency, diversity, evenness, and dominance index. Water quality and heavy metal Hg were also measured. The results showed that Cymodocea rotundata was the dominant seagrass based on species density and frequency distribution. Periphyton composition on the leaf of C. rotundata consisted of Bacillariophyceae (16 genera), Cyanophyceae (3 genera), Chlorophyceae (9 genera), Dinophyceae (1 genus), and Rhodophyceae (1 genus). The water quality, such as phosphate, current, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, and Hg content in the water, contributed to changing the environmental condition of Talawaan Bajo waters. Therefore, the efforts to manage coastal resource conservation in the Talawaan Bajo estuary require more concern from the government and stakeholders of Talawaan Bajo.

Feeding ground indications are based on species, seagrass density and existence of Dugong dugon in Hiri Island Sea, North Maluku, Indonesia

Seagrass ecosystems are located between mangrove ecosystems and coral reefs. Seagrass ecosystems are habitats and foraging area for many marine organisms. Eco-biological cycles in seagrass ecosystems are important for maintaining populations of many organisms. Seagrass at Hiri Island is distributed horizontally along the coast. This island is also a location where Dugong dugon is found North Maluku. Dugong dugon is a vurneable species that has been included in the IUCN and Appendix I Cites. This study aimed to identify species, density of seagrass and existence of Dugong dugong. The survey method used quadratic transect method to collect seagrass data. The Results found 6 species of seagrass at Hiri Island. Five species of those seagrass (Cymodocea serrulata, Cymodecea rotundata, Halodule uninervis, Halodule pinifolia, Halophila spinulosa) are known as food of Dugong dugon. The highest species density was shown by Halodule uninervis. The presence of Dugong dugon and its feeding trail was found during field survey. Information on seagrass species and Dugong dugon sightings location can be used for endangered species conservation policies. Management and conservation efforts need to be done to maintain seagrass ecosystem and Dugong dugon potential habitat at Hiri Island.

Assessment of mangrove condition of Mare Island, North Maluku, Indonesia

This work aimed to determine the condition of mangroves according to the species density and mangrove canopy cover in marine conservation area of Mare Gam Village, Mare Island. The data were collected using the nested quadrat line transect method. The level of species density was calculated based on the criteria for mangrove growth, namely seedlings, saplings and trees. The results showed that there were 9 types of mangroves, based on the value of species density and canopy cover, the condition of mangroves at the observation site was in the good and dense category.

Termite transects from Buton Island, Sulawesi, have a low diversity compared with Sundaland sites

We used a standardised transect method to compare lowland forest termite assemblages in Buton Island, Sulawesi, with transects in Sundaland. The four Buton transects were extremely depauperate with species density ranging from 1 to 6 species, which is around 10% of the species density in 11 described Sundaland transects. Soil-feeding species were absent from the Buton transects but represent some 43% of species in the Sundaland transects. The Buton transects have relatively high soil pH (6.7–7.9), which may be associated with depauperate termite assemblages. Most termite genera recorded in Sulawesi are wood nesters that can raft in floating wood, which is probably how they arrived in Sulawesi. The Macrotermitinae (fungus-growers) do not raft and probably flew across serendipitously. Geographic isolation, both on Buton and in Sulawesi more generally, and Buton’s underlying geology causing high soil pH, may account for the near-absence of soil-nesters and soil-feeders, none of which are known to raft.

The use of diversity indices for local assessment of marine sediment quality

Diversity indices are commonly used to measure changes in marine benthic communities. However, the reliability (and therefore suitability) of these indices for detecting environmental change is often unclear because of small sample size and the inappropriate choice of communities for analysis. This study explored uncertainties in taxonomic density and two indices of community structure in our target region, Japan, and in two local areas within this region, and explored potential solutions. Our analysis of the Japanese regional dataset showed a decrease in family density and a dominance of a few species as sediment conditions become degraded. Local case studies showed that species density is affected by sediment degradation at sites where multiple communities coexist. However, two indices of community structure could become insensitive because of masking by community variability, and small sample size sometimes caused misleading or inaccurate estimates of these indices. We conclude that species density is a sensitive indicator of change in marine benthic communities, and emphasise that indices of community structure should only be used when the community structure of the target community is distinguishable from other coexisting communities and there is sufficient sample size.

Short-Term Canopy and Long-Term Effects Soil of a Native Shrub Under Arid Bioclimate: A Case Study From Tunisia

Interactions between plants (competition and facilitation) in terrestrial ecosystems include: (1) short-term effects primarily quantified with experimental removals; and (2) long-term effects primarily quantified with observational methods. This study, conducted in the National Park of Bou Hedma, examined (1) the relative contributions of short-term canopy and long-term soil effects of a shrub species in explaining differences in biomass, species diversity (richness) and species density of understory plants (i) between shrubs and open areas, (ii) between shrubs and removed shrubs; and (2) the role of grazing in driving changes in direction of short-term and long-term effects in shrub/understory species interactions.Differences in species richness, density and biomass of understorey communities between shrub removed and open areas were mostly due to long-term soil effects, whereas differences beneath shrubs and shrub removed were due to short-term canopy effects, in particular on soil water content.Our study provides the positive effect of savannas shrubs on the understorey vegetation biomass, species density and diversity in arid ecosystems. Additionally, grazing by large herbivores negatively influenced the dynamics of vegetation under an arid bioclimate.

Evaluation of Soil Physicochemical Properties, Soil Seed Bank and Species Density of Five Plant Communities in Awka Anambra State

The research study investigated the physicochemical properties of the soil in five different locations around Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka campus for their above ground and seed bank status with regards to their germination rate and species density. The study areas were located at Cattle grazed field at gariki Amansea, abandoned farmland near Chisco Transportation and Engineering workshop, frequently mowed lawn at Unizik e-library, a Savanna woodland behind the banking plaza Unizik and tropical lowland forest at Botanical garden Unizik. The seed bank investigation was conducted from September 2016 to March, 2017. Analysis of variance was used to test significant differences between seed bank densities among experimental plots at different soil horizons. The soil physiochemical parameters among the experimental plots were also analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. Significant differences were tested at P= 0.05 at 95% confidence intervals. Results revealed the highest value for above ground species was found in tropical lowland forest (53.67±6.11) while the lowest was in cattle grazed field (8.00±0.82). Meanwhile the highest value for seed bank was in the frequently mowed lawn Unizik e-library (93.00±18.00) and the lowest was in the forest (6.50±4.95). The comparison of the two groups using T-test revealed that there was a significant difference between the above ground and seed bank values of the tropical lowland forest P=0.003 and also between the above ground and seed bank values of the frequently moved lawn, Unzik e-library P=0.001. More so, the Savanna above ground values and seed bank species value were not significant at P=0.006, as well as cattle grazed field (8.00 ± 0.82) and (50.00± 19.31) at P=0.006. Also, the Savanna plot comparison of above ground (44.50±3.54) and the seed bank (14.00±5.20) revealed significant differences between the two groups at P=0.006. Electrical conductivity was highest in the cattle grazed field (40.00+1.08) and the highest pH value was found in the Unizik e-library (6.19+0.22). Sorensen’s coefficient index revealed the highest similarity between above ground and seed bank species occurred in the cattle-grazed field followed by the frequently mowed lawn Unizik e-library (0.196), then the abandoned farmland (0.074), the Savanna (0.060) and the forest (0.025) respectively. Since the similarity is measured between 0 and 1, it means therefore that there is a weak similarity (0.276) between above ground vegetation and the seed bank in the cattle grazed field while the frequently mowed lawn (0.196) above ground similarity with seed bank was very weak. There is no similarity (0.025) between the above ground vegetation and the seed bank in the tropical forest. This seed bank investigation showed that the number of plant species in the seed bank does not reflect the total number of species in the above ground and the soil properties have an impact on the species density of the areas.