A Preliminary Investigation into the Community Structure and Composition of Intertidal Fauna along the East Coast of India

Coastal ecosystems are biologically and economically productive and at the same time they are the places of dynamic change due to natural and anthropogenic pressures. These changes are directly or indirectly affecting the community structure of the organisms and essentially reflect ecological quality of the habitats (Vladica and Snezana, 1999). India is having a large coastline of 8000 km, along the west and east coasts, which include many biotopes such as estuaries, lagoons, backwaters, mangroves, salt marshes, coral reefs etc. The east coast coastline encompasses almost all types of intertidal habitats such as rocky intertidal zones, salt marshes, mud flats, sea grass beds and sandy beaches, sharing this coastline to different extents. The shape and the sediment characteristics of the coastal ecosystems are highly sensitive to oceanographic forcing, wave energy, near shore wave transformation, wave setup, storm surge, erosion, tides and near shore circulation (Kumar et al., 2006 and Krishnamurthy and Subbramaiah, 1972). These habitats provide a transition zone between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and are vulnerable to human impacts from both land and ocean based activities, including coastal development, urban run-off, marine pollution and recreational activities. The organisms in these zones become specially adapted to survive the rapid and significant changes in temperature, salinity, moisture, pH, dissolved oxygen, and food supply that occur on a daily basis due to the movement of the tides (Levington, 1995). The Intertidal zones also provide food not only for humans, but also for marine species and migrating birds. Thus intertidal ecosystems are valuable sites for investigation of relationships between biodiversity and the coastal ecosystem function (Vaghela et al., 2010).