Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.17
Cerithedia
obtusa scrapping the algal
mat on mangrove trunk
during August 2013 reveals signi
cant spatial
differences of stored carbon in gastropod species
in Indian Sundarbans, which might be due to
carbon derived from algal mat, litter and detritus
of mangroves that is more in the eastern sector of
Indian Sundarbans compared to the central and
western sectors. The stored carbon also exhibited
species-wise variation, and the order is
source of carbon in gastropods. The stored car-
bon in seaweed like
,
Ulva lactuca and Catenella repens is more in the
eastern followed by central and western sectors
(Mitra et al.
2014
). This trend is also seen in case
of organic carbon present in soil and mangrove
litter (Mitra
2013
).
The carbon content in molluscan species
exhibits unique seasonal variation. Compared
with the data of Table
6.3
, the stored carbon
values are relatively lower in the same gastropod
species
Enteromorpha intestinalis
C. ob-
tusa
>
N. articulata
>
T.
telescopium
>
C.
cingulata
irrespective of locations (Tables
6.3
,
6.4
and
6.5
). As stated earlier in this section, one
of the most important sources of carbon in mar-
ine and estuarine gastropods is their diets, which
mainly are macroalgae on the mangrove vegeta-
tion or detritus on the intertidal mud
collected from the
same
sampling
Table 6.3
Concentrations of total carbon (% dry wt.) in
the soft tissues and shells of the investigated gastropod
species (mean values and standard deviations) collected
from eastern sector of Indian Sundarbans
Species
fl
ats.
C.
obtusa
is fully dependent on algal matter for
nutrition, and
N. articulata
prefers both algal
feed and detritus.
T. telescopium
and
C. cingu-
Carbon
lata
are normally detritivores (Fig.
6.18
).
The spatial order of stored carbon in
Tissues
Shells
esh and
shell of the selected gastropod species is eastern
sector > central sector > western sector. This
spatial difference (as revealed through ANOVA
in Tables
6.6
and
6.7
) may be due to stored
carbon in the food material, which is the main
fl
37.59
±
0.60
13.90
±
0.15
Telescopium
telescopium
Nerita articulata
37.33
±
0.58
13.88
±
0.10
Cerithedia obtusa
39.85
±
0.89
13.99
±
0.19
Cerithedia cingulata
37.66
±
0.50
12.86
±
0.11
