PJB-2025-1530
Multivariate analysis of marine algal assemblages and their distribution pattern along the Sindh coastal area of Pakistan
Fahad Bashir, S. Shahid Shaukat, Alia Abbas, Muhammad Faheem Siddiqui and Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi
Abstract
Algae play an important role in marine and fresh water environment. They are used in a variety of ways, including as therapeutic agents and constitute one of the important natural resource. Many environmental factors such as pollution are disrupting their richness, composition and abundance of coast seaweeds. This investigation focuses on the quantitative community description of composition and structure of seaweed assemblages using multivariate approaches for the Sindh cost, Pakistan, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Ward’s agglomerative clustering techniques were employed to analyze the data structure. A total of 77 seaweed species were recorded of which 20% belonged to Chlorophyta, 45% to Phaeophyta and 34% were from the phylum Rhodophyta. Jania capillacea, Codium reductum, Udotea indica,Caulerpa scalpelliformis, Melanothamnus somaliensis, Chaetomorpha antennia, Codium iyengarii, Caulerpa racemosa, Caulerpa veravalensis and Ulva rigida are usually abundant species in summer, while in winter season Colpomenia sinuosa, Iyengaria nizamudinii, Iyengaria stellata, Lobophora variegate, Cystoseira indica, Dictyota dichotoma, Padina gymnospora, Padina pavonica ,Sargassum filifolium, Sargassum crassifolium, Dictyota divaricate, Dictyota indica, Codium iyengarii, Coelarthrum muelleri, Champia globulifera and Gelidium folifera attain greater abundance. A group of species are usually associated with particular habitats forming assemblages (communities). The assemblages characteristic of rocky / /sandy pools. Comprise of Caulerpa spp., Codium spp., Iyengaria spp., Cystoseira spp. and Dictyota spp., the species with sandy/rocky beaches include Sargassum spp., Padina spp., Colpomenia sinuosa, Laurencia pinnatifida and Melanothamnus somaliensis. Muddy habitats are commonly occupied by communities having Entomorpha flexsousa, Chaetomorpha antennia and Polysiphonia adriatica .as the dominant species. Algal biomass was highest in February and lowest in July. Principal component analysis (PCA) ordination configuration and the bi-plot disclosed the distribution pattern of species and their assemblages (associations) and the relationships with habitats types. Cluster analysis effectively exposed the underlying group structure (i.e., communities or assemblages) and complemented the results of PCA
To Cite this article:
Bashir, F., S.S. Shaukat, A. Abbas, M.F. Siddiqui and I.A. Qureshi. 2025. Multivariate analysis of marine algal assemblages and their distribution pattern along the Sindh coastal area of Pakistan. Pak. J. Bot., 57(4): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2025-4(2)
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