Species Composition and Abundance of Planktonic Copepods in Pahang Estuaries, Malaysia

An ecological study on the copepods of estuarine mangrove of Pahang Coast in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia was carried out to determine the difference in species composition as to understand their contribution to the coastal copepods in The South China Sea. Field sampling was carried out in the estuary of Miang, Bebar, Kuantan and Endau River. Samples of zooplankton were collected by using 65 microns of Kitahara plankton net. A total of 17 copepod families that represented by 35 species were identified. Species biodiversity in the study area was low as indicated by the values of Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index, H’ (between 1.36 and 1.79 bits). The combination analysis of clustering (Bray-Curtis similarity) and ordination (2-dimensional MDS configuration) between stations based on copepod species abundance showed the low percentage of similarity (30-35%) for the main grouping. Results from this study indicated the effect of sea water and freshwater inflow towards the different species composition in the mangrove estuarine copepods in Miang, Kuantan, Bebar and Endau River. The relationship and contribution of the estuary as the shelter area for the coastal species was also indicated.