Research Article

Effects of Mangrove Zonation and the Physicochemical Parameters of Soil on the Distribution of Macrobenthic Fauna in Kadolkele Mangrove Forest, a Tropical Mangrove Forest in Sri Lanka

Table 2

The relative abundance of the infaunal taxa recorded from the 3 mangrove zones in Kadolkele mangrove forest ( = 60 soil core samples from each mangrove zone).

Total abundance in each zone and
PhylumFamilyGenus/speciesrelative abundance (%) in parenthesisTotal abundance all 3 zonesRelative abundance (%)
Rhizophora zoneAvicennia zoneLumnitzera zone

AnnelidaTubificidaeLimnodrilus sp. (oligochaete worms)120 (96)0 (0)351 (94.35)47194.77
NereididaeNeanthes negomboensis (polychaete worm)4 (3.2)0 (0)10 (2.69)142.82

NematodaDorylaimidaDorylaimus stagnalis (round worm)0 (0)0 (0)2 (0.54)20.40

ArthropodaAoridaeLembos sp. (amphipod)0 (0)0 (0)6 (1.61)61.21
ScarabaeidaeHolotrichia sp. (white grub)0 (0)0 (0)1 (0.27)10.20
EntomobryidaeEntomobryoides sp.
(slender springtail)
1 (0.8)0 (0)1 (0.27)20.40
TabanidaeTabanid larvae
(horse fly larvae)
0 (0)0 (0)1 (0.27)10.20

Species richness307

Total abundance of infauna1250372497100