Competitional settlement of Brown Algae Iyengaria stellata and Soft Coral Zoanthous sansibaricus on Muddy and Muddy-rubble intertidal substrate in the Hormuz Island

Bahmani, Ghazaleh; Alavi-Yeganeh, Mohammad; Seyfabadi, Seyed Jafar; Tavakoli-Kolor, Parviz

Competitional settlement of Brown Algae Iyengaria stellata and Soft Coral Zoanthous sansibaricus on Muddy and Muddy-rubble intertidal substrate in the Hormuz Island

Authors

Ghazaleh Bahmani

Mohammad Alavi-Yeganeh ¹

Seyed Jafar Seyfabadi

Parviz Tavakoli-Kolor ²

¹ Assistance Prof. In Tarbiat Modares Uni., Faculty Of Marine Science, Dep Of Marine Biology.

² MSc, Marine Biology Department, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Bandar Abbas Branch Islamic Azad University, Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Abstract

Settlement of benthic community depends on environmental conditions and interspecific reactions. The effect of substrates on the surface cover by the soft coral, Zoanthus sansibaricus, and the brown algae, Iyengaria stellata and their computational condition, was compared in the Hormuz Island by estimating of coverage area in 40 quadrates (50×50 cm). Z. sansibaricus is a dominant soft coarl (Zoanthid) species in Hormuz island coasts in the other side I. stellata considered as dominant macroalgea, most of year in area. Significant negative correlation (p<0.01; r = -0.607) revealed competition between two species in settlement on the two substrates. Soft coral with 61.7% coverage was dominant vs. 16.8% for brown algae on muddy-Rubble substrate, but on sandy-Rubble substrate, the brown algae was dominant with 37.8% coverage vs. 19.5% for the soft coral. It seems that better compitiunal conditions in settlement on unconsolidated substrate have some advantages for Z. sansibaricus on Muddy-rubble substrate.

Keywords

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Intertidal zone

Habitat competition

Persian Gulf

Soft coral