Distribution of recent benthic Ostracoda off Rameswaram, Palk Strait, Tamil Nadu, south east coast of India
Distribution of recent benthic Ostracoda off Rameswaram, Palk Strait, Tamil Nadu, south east coast of India (in Proceedings of XXIII Indian colloquium on Micropaleontology and stratigraphy and international symposium on Global bioevents in Earth's history, Nallamuthu Malarkodi (editor), Gerta Keller (editor), A. Nallapa Reddy (editor) and B. C. Jaiprakash (editor))
Special Publication - Geological Society of India (2013) 1: 125-136
- Arthropoda
- Asia
- Bay of Bengal
- benthic taxa
- cluster analysis
- Crustacea
- electron microscopy data
- faunal list
- faunal studies
- India
- Indian Ocean
- Indian Peninsula
- Invertebrata
- living taxa
- Mandibulata
- marine sediments
- morphology
- Ostracoda
- seasonal variations
- sediments
- SEM data
- statistical analysis
- Tamil Nadu India
- Rameswaram Island
- Palk Strait
An investigation to record spatial and seasonal distribution of recent benthic ostracoda was carried out along two transects (East and Northeast) off Rameswaram island of Tamil Nadu coast, India. Thirty sediment and bottom water samples were collected during January 2011 and April 2011 and analysed for various physico-chemical and sediment characteristics using standard procedures. The top 4 cm sediment was preserved in 10% formaldehyde and later in the laboratory the live and total population of Ostracoda was determined using the rose Bengal stain technique. Faunal frequencies for benthic ostracods were computed and correlated with physico-chemical and sediment characteristics. The correlation reveals that ostracod frequency has a positive correlation with sandy substrate and negative correlation with clay substrate and OM%. Faunal frequencies increased by 3 times during summer (April 2011) although values of physico-chemical and sediment characteristics do not show considerable variation from January 2011. The east transect is proximal to the coral reef and characterized by sandy substrate in both seasons, supports high populations and therefore is more congenial for ostracod proliferation. Finally, environmental variables have been correlated with those measured three decades ago to understand the causes for variations.
