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<p>Intertidal ecosystems are characterized by pronounced environmental gradients that influence benthic community assembly, yet the mechanisms governing meiofaunal organization in tropical macrotidal systems remain poorly understood. We investigated the meiofaunal community structure across three contrasting intertidal habitats (rocky coralline beds, sandy beaches, mangroves) in the monsoon-influenced Gulf of Kachchh, India, using a balanced orthogonal sampling design encompassing habitat, tidal elevation, and spatial replication. Eighteen meiofaunal taxa were recorded. Nematoda and Copepoda collectively accounted for the majority of individuals across all habitats. Multivariate analyses revealed that habitat identity significantly influenced community composition, abundance, diversity, and evenness, whereas tidal elevation had no detectable effect. Bootstrapped nMDS and PERMANOVA showed clear habitat-level segregation, with the strongest compositional turnover occurring between mangrove and rocky coralline habitats. Environmental analyses showed that community composition and abundance were primarily associated with indicators of food quality and organic enrichment, including chlorophyll-a, phaeophytin, organic matter, and sediment moisture. In contrast, diversity and evenness were more strongly related to sediment architecture, particularly grain-size composition, porosity, and water content. Redundancy analysis indicated that environmental variables explained 40.08% of total community variation, highlighting the importance of local sedimentary conditions in structuring assemblages. The dominance of nematodes in fine-grained, organically enriched sediments and the greater representation of copepods and halacarids in coarser habitats further demonstrated habitat-specific ecological filtering. These findings indicate that habitat structural complexity functions as an environmental sieve that regulates meiofaunal community assembly within this macrotidal ecosystem and underscore the value of meiofauna as sensitive indicators of intertidal habitat condition.</p>

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Habitat-specific meiobenthic community structure across intertidal zones of the Gulf of Kachchh during Southwest Monsoon

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月26日

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  • Sanofar Khokher,
  • Joydeep Dutta,
  • Sagar Chawan,
  • Amita Choudhury,
  • Tahseen Qudsia,
  • Gaurav Kumar,
  • Arun Karnwal,
  • Natalia Nesterova

摘要

Intertidal ecosystems are characterized by pronounced environmental gradients that influence benthic community assembly, yet the mechanisms governing meiofaunal organization in tropical macrotidal systems remain poorly understood. We investigated the meiofaunal community structure across three contrasting intertidal habitats (rocky coralline beds, sandy beaches, mangroves) in the monsoon-influenced Gulf of Kachchh, India, using a balanced orthogonal sampling design encompassing habitat, tidal elevation, and spatial replication. Eighteen meiofaunal taxa were recorded. Nematoda and Copepoda collectively accounted for the majority of individuals across all habitats. Multivariate analyses revealed that habitat identity significantly influenced community composition, abundance, diversity, and evenness, whereas tidal elevation had no detectable effect. Bootstrapped nMDS and PERMANOVA showed clear habitat-level segregation, with the strongest compositional turnover occurring between mangrove and rocky coralline habitats. Environmental analyses showed that community composition and abundance were primarily associated with indicators of food quality and organic enrichment, including chlorophyll-a, phaeophytin, organic matter, and sediment moisture. In contrast, diversity and evenness were more strongly related to sediment architecture, particularly grain-size composition, porosity, and water content. Redundancy analysis indicated that environmental variables explained 40.08% of total community variation, highlighting the importance of local sedimentary conditions in structuring assemblages. The dominance of nematodes in fine-grained, organically enriched sediments and the greater representation of copepods and halacarids in coarser habitats further demonstrated habitat-specific ecological filtering. These findings indicate that habitat structural complexity functions as an environmental sieve that regulates meiofaunal community assembly within this macrotidal ecosystem and underscore the value of meiofauna as sensitive indicators of intertidal habitat condition.