Proceedings of the National Conference on Ecology, Sustainable Development and Wildlife

Conservation

Paper-1

AN ASSESSMENT OF MANGROVE DIVERSITY, MANGALORE,

KARNATAKA
S. Murugan and Usha Anandhi
Reproductive Physiology Unit, Department of Zoology, Bangalore University (Karnataka)
E-mail: muru3986@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION:
Mangroves are arboreal salt-tolerant flowering plants growing ideally in tropical and
subtropical regions (Ellison and Stoddart, 1991). The word "Mangrove" could mean the
ecosystem or a single plant (Tomlinson, 1986). A mangrove plants is shrub, palm, tree or fern
growing above mean sea level of marine coastal environments or estuaries exceeding a height
of half a meter (Duke, 1992). The mangrove ecosystem is distinguished from other plant
species by naming them as "Mangals" (Macnae, 1968). Mangrove ecosystem, due to the rich
biodiversity and unusual habitat, command a unique attention among the coastal
environments. This ecosystem holds diverse faunal and floral diversity because of their
effective interaction of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem. Mangroves apart from being
nurseries for number of economically important aquatic animals, support for microbial flora
growth and providing habitats to crustaceans, molluscs, reptiles, mammals and birds. They
also have tremendous social and ecological value providing income by collection of
molluscs, crustaceans, fish, fuel wood, charcoal, timber and wood chips. Mangrove
ecosystem has a key role in trapping of pollutants, coastal land stabilization by filtering
sediment and protection against natural calamities (Elizabeth McLeod and Rodney V. Salm-
2006).
Mangroves act as filter for land runoffs and green-walls for soil erosion, thus crucial
in stabilising the loose soil from high wind velocity, tidal surges and cyclonic storms (Rao
and Sastry, 1973 and Rao et. al., 1963). Around 80 mangroves species are found to be
distributed throughout the world (Saenger et al., 1983). Though mangrove distribution is
found over 112 countries (Naskar and Mandal, 1999) covering about 240 x 103 km2 (Lugo et
al. 1990 and Twilley et al. 1992), India has 2.66% of the world’s mangroves (Arun and Shaji,
2013), having fourth largest mangrove of 6749Km2. The mangroves are highly threatened
across the globe. There is very limited data on the availability and importance of mangroves
in South Canara, India, hence the present study was undertaken. The main objective of the
study is to assess the diversity of mangrove flora, which would help in deriving taxonomical
details based on species diversity, richness and evenness from the selected sites of
Mangalore.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

Study area: Mangrove vegetation in India, particularly in Karnataka is found to be
distributed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada with a coastal line of about
320kms. Dakshina Kannada district has four main rivers joining the Arabian Sea, namely

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Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Gurupura (Phalguni), Nandini (Pavanje) river. Among these rivers
Kumaradhara confluence with Netravathi at Uppinangady and continues as river Netravathi.
Whereas at Dakshina Kannada Gurupura and Netravathi confluence in Mangalore and
Pavanje confluence with Shambavi river of Udupi district at Mulki to join Arabian Sea. In the
present study the Netravathi - Gurupura estuarine complex (12.90052'68", 74.82013'58" to
12.82081'36", 74.85089'45"), Mangalore has been selected, geograpically located 352 kms
west of Bangalore and 54 kms south to Udupi.

Data Collection: The areas where the true mangroves exist were first identified in the
Netravathi - Gurupura estuary. The study area is divided into 5 sites (Figure A) for
identification and documentation of mangrove diversity. Site 1 and 2 are from Gurupura
estuary, site 3 and 4 are from Netravathi estuary and site 5 is close to estuarine mouth joining
Arabian Sea. Regular surveys were made along the study sites of the estuary to explore the
successful results of the true mangroves. The mangrove identifications were done during their
flowering and fruiting seasons and took photographs with the help of camera. The
nomenclature of the mangroves were done based on Gamble (1957) and Matthew (1983)
identification methods.

Figure A: Map of study site at Netravathi -Gurupura estuarine complex

Biodiversity indices such as diversity index, species richness index and evenness
index were calculated with the following standard formulae.
The diversity index was calculated using the Shannon - Wiener diversity index (H’) (Shannon
- Wiener, 1949).

H =− (Pi ∗ Ln(Pi))

Where, Pi = S / N, S = number of individuals of one species, N = total number of all

individuals in the sample and Ln = Natural logarithm

The species richness index was measured by using the Margalef’s species richness index (d')
(Margalef, 1958).
(S − 1)
d =
Ln(N)

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Where, S = total number of species, N = total number of individuals in the sample and Ln =
Natural logarithm

The evenness index was analysed by adopting the Pielou’s species evenness index (J’)
(Pielou, 1966).
H
J’ =
Ln(S)
Where, H' = Shannon -Wiener diversity index, S = total number of species in the sample and
Ln = Natural logarithm

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

In the present study eight true mangrove species (Figure B) have been identified and
documented from six families Avicenniaceae (46.60%), Rhizophoraceae (40.78%),
Lythraceae (4.85%), Euphorbiaceae (4.85%), Poaceae (1.94%) and Acanthaceae (0.97%) in
the Netravathi - Gurupura estuarine complex. The distribution of mangrove species in
different study sites are as shown in Table A. Among the different sites Avicennia officinalis
was found to be dominated in all the study sites, followed by Rhizophora mucronata,
Kandelia candel and Rhizophora apiculata which may be due to their tolerance to the wide
range fluctuations of physico - chemical properties. The important invader species of
mangrove ecosystem is Avicennia officinalis being of hardy in nature and high range of
adaptability and this was followed by Rhizophora sps (Arun and Shaji, 2013). Mangrove
diversity in the coast is usually an association of Rhizophora species with other mangrove
species as the soil is inundated daily two times by the sea water (Basha, 1992).

Table A: Distribution of mangroves in selected sites of Netravathi - Gurupura estuary

Botanical Name Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 5

Acanthus ilicifolius + - - - -
Avicennia officinalis + + + + +
Excoecaria agallocha - + - + -
Kandelia candel + + - + -
Porteresia coarctata + - - - -
Rhizophora apiculata + + - + -
Rhizophora mucronata + + + + -
Sonneratia alba + + + - -

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1.94 0.97
4.85% % %
4.85% Avicennia officinalis

Rhizophora apiculata

Rhizophora mucronata

13.59% Kandelia candel

46.60%
Sonneratia alba

Excoecaria agallocha
15.53% Porteresia coarctata

Acanthus ilicifolius

11.65%

Figure B: Percentage of mangroves species during the study period

Mangroves have high potential to get acclimatized to changes in the surrounding

environment. Out of the eight mangrove species Avicennia officinalis, Excoecaria agallocha,
Kandelia candel, Rhizophora apiculata, Rhizophora mucronata and Sonneratia alba were
identified as trees. One mangrove herb species namely Acanthus ilicifolius and one grass
namely Porteresia coarctata are reported from the present study (Table B). In our
investigation, Acanthus ilicifolius is found to be flowering from April to December and
fruiting during July to February and has been reported occurring in varied habitats of West
and East Coasts (Mudaliar et al, 1954). Avicennia officinalis flowered during June to
September and fruited during September to March. Kandelia candel was found to flower
from January to December with fruiting from April to January and this plant is found to be
very fast disappearing from the mangrove locations of Mangalore. Excoecaria agallocha and
Sonneratia alba flowered from February to July and fruited during June to January and
August to February respectively. Rhizophora apiculata and Rhizophora mucronata showed
flowering and fruiting simultaneously from July to October (Suma and Gowda, 2013).

Table B: Mangroves plants identified at Netravathi - Gurupura estuary.

Habit
Botanical Name Family Name
Acanthus ilicifolius Acanthaceae Herb
Avicennia officinalis Avicenniaceae Tree
Excoecaria agallocha Euphorbiaceae Tree
Kandelia candel Rhizophoraceae Tree
Porteresia coarctata Poaceae Grass
Rhizophora apiculata Rhizophoraceae Tree
Rhizophora mucronata Rhizophoraceae Tree
Sonneratia alba Lythraceae Tree

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Among the different study sites the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of mangrove
species showed highest at site 2 and lowest at site 5, Margalef’s richness index was noticed
highest at site 1 and lowest at site 5 and Pielou’s evenness index was observed highest at site
5 and lowest at site 3 (Table C). This may be attributed to the dominance of Avicennia
officinalis, Rhizophora sps. and physico-chemical properties of the study sites.

Table C: Diversity index, richness index and evenness index of mangroves at different study
sites during the study period. (H’ = Shannon-Wiener diversity index; d = Margalef’s species
richness index; J = Pielou’s evenness index)

Biodiversity indices Site - 1 Site - 2 Site - 3 Site – 4 Site - 5

Diversity index (H’) 1.623 1.691 0.684 1.336 0.000
Richness index (d) 1.716 1.443 0.910 1.259 0.000
Evenness index (J’) 0.724 0.904 0.660 0.761 1.000

The site 1 and 2 showed high level of diversity as well as richness located in
Gurupura estuary which might be due to slow flowing water and good amount of substratum.
Site 3 and 4 showed moderate level of diversity and richness, which could be due to the fast
flowing water and less amount of substratum at Netravathi estuary. Site 5 close to estuarine
mouth showed no diversity and richness but showed highest evenness as only Avicennia
officinalis was found distributed. The evenness in other sites varied in the order Site 2 > Site
4 > Site 1 > Site 3.

CONCLUSION:
In the present investigation, 8 species of true mangroves with 6 tree species, 1 herb
species and 1 grass species were identified from Netravathi - Gurupura estuarine complex,
Mangalore. Even though these mangroves protect human resource and biodiversity, these
ecosystem are experiencing enormous threat due to their tremendous exploitation for fuel
wood, timber, paper, charcoal, alcohol and medicine (Upadhyay et al. 2002). In the recent
times over 40% mangrove areas has been depleted (Satheesh Kumar et al, 2011) as increased
human settlement has increased pressure on these mangroves. Hence immediate conservation
activities towards the better management of remaining mangroves with legal enforcement of
protection rules are of at most need.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
The authors are grateful to Dr. S. Saraswathi, Assistant Professor, BMCRI, Bangalore
for the support provided in conducting the study.

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