Status of macrobenthic community of Manifa-Tanajib Bay System of Saudi Arabia based on a once-off sampling event

Thadickal Viswanathan Joydas, P. K. Krishnakumar, Mohammad Ali Qurban, Said M. Ali, Abdulaziz M. Al-Suwailem, Khaled Al-Abdulkader

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Shallow water bays located in the western Arabian Gulf experience harsh environmental conditions. Some of these bays, including Manifa-Tanajib Bay System (MTBS), were also exposed to the 1991 oil pollution event. This study investigates the status of the macrobenthos in MTBS during 2006. This bay system is characterized by very shallow inner bays with elevated salinity and temperature compared to the rest of the bay area. As a result mainly of the hyper salinity, the inner bay communities are distinct from the outer bay communities. Overall, fairly high species richness with several rare species was observed. High Shannon-Wiener diversity values and ABC plots indicated the healthy status of the polychaete communities, while BOPA index indicated slightly polluted status in 20% of the stations. The oil sensitive amphipods were not completely re-colonized in 20% of the stations, even after 15. years of recovery from the 1991 oil spill. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1249-1260
Number of pages12
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume62
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oceanography
  • Pollution
  • Aquatic Science

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