Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T14:50:00.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Epifauna diversity and ecology on intertidal flats in the tropical Niger Delta, with remarks on the gastropod species Haminoea orbignyana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2011

Nenibarini Zabbey*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria
Manuel António E. Malaquias
Affiliation:
Phylogenetic Systematics and Evolution Research Group, The Natural History Collections, Bergen Museum, University of Bergen, PB 7800, 5020-Bergen, Norway
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N. Zabbey, Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria email: zabbey1@yahoo.com

Abstract

Here we report novel data on the ecology and diversity of West African estuarine biological communities, with emphasis on the opisthobranch gastropod, Haminoea orbignyana. Macrofaunal samples were obtained from five intertidal flats within Bodo Creek in the lower Niger Delta during two years (May 2006–April 2008) to investigate diversity and community assemblages of epimacrofauna. A total of 601 individuals belonging to 18 species were recorded, with density varying between 4 ind.m−2 and 660 ind.m−2. Gastropods (predominantly Pachymelania aurita and H. orbignyana) accounted for 92.3% of the community abundance, followed by malacostraca crustaceans (7.7%). Diversity varied (P < 0.05) between locations, with the mangrove swamp station having higher richness, diversity and evenness values than the open intertidal flat locations. The species H. orbignyana was only found on downstream sampling sites reaching a maximum density of 52 ind.m−2. The species seems to recruit during November/December and likely attains a maximum life span of about 18 months.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ajao, E.A. and Fagade, S.O. (2002) The benthic macro-infauna of Lagos lagoon. Zoologist 1, 115.Google Scholar
APHA (American Public Health Association), AWWA and WPCF (1998) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater 20th edition. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.Google Scholar
Ansa, E.J. (2004) Studies on the benthic macrofauna of the Andoni flats in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. PhD thesis. University of Port Harcourt.Google Scholar
Asia-Phil Fisheries Cooperation (1981) Final report on the full feasibility studies of three fish farm projects of 500 hectares each in Bodo, Buguma and Ekowe, Rivers State. Report submitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria by Asia-Phil Fisheries Cooperation Manila, Philippines, 308 pp.Google Scholar
ARAC (African Regional Aquaculture Centre) (1990) Site selection studies for a shrimp farm project at Bodo, Rivers State. Final Report submitted to Integrated Fish Farm Limited, Lagos, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Badejo, M.A. (1998) Introduction to the general classification of crustaceans. Ibadan, Nigeria: College Press, 43 pp.Google Scholar
Bassey, N. (1999) The mangroves in the Niger River Delta. In The oil flows, the forest bleeds. Quito, Ecuador: Oil Watch (www.oilwatch.org.ec).Google Scholar
Berry, A.J. (1982) Predation by Natica maculosa Lamarck (Naticidae: Gastropoda) upon the trochacean gastropod Umbonium vestiarium (L.) on a Malaysian shore. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 64, 7189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chester, C.M. (1993) Comparative feeding biology of Acteocina canaliculata (Say, 1826) and Haminoea solitaria (Say, 1822) (Opisthbranchia: Cephalaspidae). American Malacological Bulletin 10, 93101.Google Scholar
Chindah, A.C., Tawari, C.C.B. and Ifechukwude, K.A. (2000) The food and feeding habits of the swimming crab Callinectes amnicola (Portunidae) of the New Calabar River, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Science and Environment 4, 5157.Google Scholar
CORDEC (Consultancy Research and Development Centre) (1989) Post impact ecological studies of Bodo West Field. Report submitted by CORDEC to the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).Google Scholar
Deekae, S.N. (1987) The ecological distribution of mangrove molluscs in the Bonny/New Calabar river System of Niger Delta. MSc thesis. University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Edmunds, J. (1978) Sea shells and other molluscs found on West African shores and estuaries. Accra: Ghana University Press, 146 pp.Google Scholar
Egonmwan, R.I. (1980) On the biology of Tympanotonus fuscatus var radula (Gastropoda: prosobranchia: Potamididae). In Proceedings of the 8th international Malacological Congress, Malacologia, Budapest.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eleftheriou, A. and Holme, N.A. (1984) Macrofauna techniques. In Holme, N.A. and Mclntyre, A.D. (eds) Methods for the study of marine benthos. London: Blackwell Scientific Publication, pp. 140216.Google Scholar
Eltringham, S.K. (1971) Life in mud and Sands. London: English Universities Press, 218 pp.Google Scholar
Gabriel, C. (1981) The ecology and growth of Tympanotonus fuscatus var radula (Linnaues, 1758) in the Port Harcourt area. Msc thesis. Department of Zoology, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Garcia, F.J., Perez-Hurtado, A. and Garcia-Gomez, J.C. (1991) Haminoea templadoi, a new species of cephalaspidean opisthobranch from the Atlantic Iberian coast. Journal of Molluscan Studies 57, 395399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IUCN/CEESP (2006) Niger Delta natural resources damage assessment and restoration Project Phase I scoping report. Federal Ministry of Environment, Abuja, CEESP–IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy, May 31, 2006, 14 pp.Google Scholar
Jones, A.R. (1987) Temporal pattern in macrobenthic communities of the Hawkesbury estuary, New South Wales. Australian Journal of Marine and Fresh Water Resources 38, 607624.Google Scholar
Kennedy, V.S., Rosenberg, W.H., Zion, H.H. and Castegna, M. (1974) Temperature–time relationship for survival of embryos and larvae of Mulina lateralis (Mollusca: Bivalvia). Marine Biology 24, 137145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kio, P.R.O. and Ola-Adams, B.A. (1986) Utilization and development of wetlands. Paper presented at the UNESCO MAB-5 Nigeria wetlands workshop, 3–6 May, 1986, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, pp. 6874.Google Scholar
Kumar, R.S. (1995) Macrobenthos in the mangrove ecosystem of Cochin backwaters, Kerala (southwest coast of India). Indian Journal of Marine Science 24, 5661.Google Scholar
Malaquias, M.A.E., Condinho, S., Cervera, J.L. and Sprung, M. (2004) Diet and feeding biology of Haminoea orbygniana (Mollusca: Coastropoda: Cephalaspidea). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84, 767772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malaquias, M.A.E. and Cervera, J.L. (2006) The genus Haminoea (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea) in Portugal, with a review of the European species. Journal of Molluscan Studies 72, 89103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malaquias, M.A.E. and Sprung, M.J. (2005) Population biology of the cephalaspidean mollusc Haminoea orbignyana in a temperate coastal lagoon (Ria Formosa, Portugal). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 63, 177185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margalef, R. (1958) Information theory in ecology. General Systems 3, 3671.Google Scholar
McLusky, D.S. (1989) The estuarine ecosystem. 2nd edition. New York: Chapman and Hall, 214 pp.Google Scholar
Moreno, P. and Callisto, M. (2006) Benthic macroinvertebrates in the watershed of an urban reservoir in southeastern Brazil. Hydrobiologia 560, 311321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nandy, S. and Mitra, S. (2004) Features of Indian Sunderbans mangrove swamps. Environment and Ecology 22, 339344.Google Scholar
Nybakken, J.W. and Bertness, M.D. (2005) Marine biology. An ecological approach. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, 579 pp.Google Scholar
Odiete, W.O. (1999) Environmental physiology of animals and pollution. Lagos, Nigeria: Diversified Resources, 261 pp.Google Scholar
Oliver, G.P. (1986) A new lucinid bivalve from the Niger Delta and an appraisal of the Loripes group (Bivalvia, Lucinacea). Basteria 50, 4764.Google Scholar
Onwugbuta-Enyi, J., Zabbey, N. and Erondu, E.S. (2008) Water quality of Bodo Creek in the lower Niger Delta basin. Advances in Environmental Biology 2, 132136.Google Scholar
Oyenekan, J.A. (1979) The ecology of the genus Pachymelania in Lagos Lagoon. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 86, 515522.Google Scholar
Pielou, E.C. (1969) An introduction to mathematical geology. New York: Wiley Interscience, 289 pp.Google Scholar
Powell, C.B., Hart, A.I. and Deekae, S. (1985) Market survey of the periwinkle Tympanotonus fuscatus in Rivers State: sizes, prices and exploitation levels. In Ha, E.A., Ajayi, T.O., Ezenna, B., Olaniawo, A.A., Udolisa, R.E.K. and Taggert, P.A. (eds) Proceedings of the 4th Annual Conference of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON), pp. 5561.Google Scholar
Ronnback, P. (1999) The ecological basis for economic value of seafood production supported by mangrove ecosystems. Ecological Economics 29, 235252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossi, R.M., Forster, F., Monserrat, F.M., Ponti, A., Terlizzi, T., Ysebaert, J. and Middelburg, J. (2007) Human trampling as short-term disturbance on intertidal mudflats: effects on macrofaunal biodiversity and population dynamics of bivalves. Marine Biology 151, 20772090.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sasekumar, A. (1974) Distribution of macrofauna on a Malayan mangrove shore. Journal of Animal Ecology 43, 5169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C.E. and Weaver, W. (1963) The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Urbana Press, 177 pp.Google Scholar
Simpson, E.H. (1949) Measurement of diversity. Nature 163, 688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snowden, R.J. and Ekweozor, I.K.E. (1990) Littoral infauna of a West African estuary: oil pollution baseline survey. Marine Biology 105, 5157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalding, M., Blasco, F. and Field, C. (1997) World mangroves atlas. Okinawa, Japan: International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, 178 pp.Google Scholar
Sprung, M. (1994) Macrobenthic secondary production in the intertidal zone of the Ria Formosa—a lagoon in southern Portugal. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 63, 177185Google Scholar
Steiner, R. (2008) Double standards? International standards to prevent and control pipeline oil spills, compared with shell practices in Nigeria. A report submitted to Friends of the Earth, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Talavera, P., Murillo, L. and Templado, J. (1987) The genus Haminoea Turton and Kingston, 1930 (Opisthobranchia, Bullomorpha) in the southeast of Spain with the description of a new species. Bollettino Malacologico 23, 5368.Google Scholar
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) (2006) Niger Delta human development report. Garki, Abuja, Nigeria: UN House, 218 pp.Google Scholar
Willis, T.J., Miller, R.B. and Babcock, R.C. (2003) Protection of exploited fish in temperate regions: high density and biomass of snapper Pagrus auratus (Sparidae) in northern New Zealand marine reserves. Journal of Applied Ecology 40, 214227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zabbey, N. and Hart, A.I. (2006) Influence of some physico-chemical parameters on the composition and distribution of benthic fauna in Woji Creek, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Global Journal of Pure and Applied Science 12, 15.Google Scholar
Zabbey, N. (2009) Pollution and poverty in the Niger Delta region—what is the responsibility of oil companies in Nigeria? An invited paper presented at the University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway on 29 October, 2009.Google Scholar
Zabbey, N., Hart, A.I. and Wolff, W.J. (2010) Population structure, biomass and production of the West African lucinid Keletistes rhizoecus (Bivalvia, Mollusca) in Sivibilabgara swamp at Bodo Creek, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Hydrobiologia 654, 193203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar