An integrated field data and remote sensing approach for impact assessment of human activities on epifauna macrobenthos biodiversity along the western coast of Aqaba Gulf

Abstract

The Egyptian coast of Gulf of Aqaba, north of the Red Sea, suffers from severe destruction and deterioration in habitat and biodiversity due to anthropogenic activities and flooding. The present work aims to evaluate the impacts of different human activities and flooding on the biodiversity of macrobenthic invertebrates along the Egyptian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. From January 2019 to December 2019, many field trips (12 trips) were conducted to survey macrobenthic invertebrate communities and monitor water quality at nine sites within three sectors along the study area. Each site was divided into four ecological zones and one of five categories, according to the main activities at each site. Furthermore, satellite data were used to monitor the progress of land use and turbidity in the study area. Therefore, the current study assesses the relationship between these factors and water quality and macrobenthic invertebrate distributions, similarity, diversity, dominance and abundance. The results revealed that 53 macrobenthic invertebrate species belonging to three phyla (Mollusca, Echinodermata and Annelida) and one subphylum (Crustacea) were recorded. The echinoderm Echinometra mathaei was the major eudominant species. The northern part of the Gulf was higher in abundance and diversity with low land use and lowest water turbidity, while the south part showed contrary findings. All statistical analysis confirmed that the dissolved oxygen concentration was considered the only limiting factor for the abundance and diversity of macrobenthic invertebrates. Also, the variation in activities at investigated sites affected the dominance state of species in each site. Moreover, GPS data confirmed that the tourism activity had the largest influence on marine ecosystems and biodiversity, followed by fishing and desalination practices. Otherwise, flooding has significant influence on marine habitats and creates a habitat in which other certain species can survive. In the absence of awareness, intervention and disregard for the effective coastal zone management concept, especially for the unique marine ecosystems such as the Gulf of Aqaba, the degradation of biodiversity will continue until extinction, and human life is rendered unsustainable.

Phytogeographical regions of Egypt: first open-source geospatial data and its applications

“…Moreover, research and studies based on phytogeography are vital in understanding species migration, origination, speciation, and conservation (11)(12)(13)(14). For the last few decades, phytogeographical regions of Egypt, especially Nile Delta, were severely impacted by human activities (15) including cultivation for Wadi deltaic regions, medicinal plant harvesting due to their economic and medical values, new cities creation, and road establishment (15)(16)(17)(18). Such anthropogenic activities impacted the natural ora and changed geographical distribution of plant species (16-22).…”

Surf Redfish-Based ZnO-NPs and Their Biological Activity with Reference to Their Non-Target Toxicity

“…The marine environment hosts a huge diversity of organisms that evolved to live in challenging and harsh conditions [ 7 , 8 ], reflecting the enormous by-products and derivatives with unique biological properties that could be beneficial in wide industrial and biotechnological applications [ 9 ]. Until now, the marine environment has been considered an unexplored source for promising components of biotechnological interest [ 5 , 10 ].…”

Peningkatan Partisipasi Masyarakat melalui Penanaman Mangrove dalam Rehabilitasi Pesisir

“…Di Indonesia Wilayah pesisir umumnya memiliki berbagai jenis ekosistem seperti hutan mangrove berdasarkan data Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan dengan luas mencapai sekitar 3,2 juta hektar, terumbu karang mencakup sekitar 51.020 km persegi, padang lamun: diperkirakan memiliki sekitar 27% dari total padang lamun dunia dan hutan bakau mencapai sekitar 3,49 juta hektar (Suparto, 2023). Namun, ekosistem pesisir sering kali mengalami kerusakan seperti perambahan hutan mangrove, reklamasi pantai, dan pencemaran laut (El-Naggar et al, 2022;Suparto, 2023). Sebagai contoh, menurut Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan pada tahun 2014, sekitar 37.700 hektar hutan mangrove yang telah hilang atau rusak di Indonesia selama 20 tahun terakhir (Pratama, 2020).…”