Ecological distribution of benthic polychaeta in coastal mangrove swamps of Fujian Province

Abstract

Numerous biotic surveys in mangrove swamps have been conducted throughout the whole world, and these studies have demonstrated that macrobenthos is among the most diverse biological group. Although benthic polychaetes, together with mollusks and crustaceans, constitute the main component of macrobenthos in mangroves, their diversity and abundance have been relatively poorly studies or even neglected, leading to a poor understanding of the ecological characteristics of this faunal group. In spite of the great spatial distribution variation of polychaetes, most previous studies located at certain area or one single location, were inadequately to reflect the spatial distribution of polychaetes. Aiming to describe the polychaete diversity and its distribution pattern in mangrove swamps in Fujian province, the present study carried out investigations along 11 transects in 5 typical mangrove swamps, namely Yaojiayu( FDH) , Yundan Island( YDH) , Luoyang River( QZH) , Jiulong River( LHH) and Zhang River ( YXH) , in spring and autumn from 2009 to 2012. Macrobenthic samples were