Seasonal Influence on Settlement, Distribution and Diversity of Fouling Organisms at Mumbai Harbour
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Indian Journal of Marine Sciences Vol. 39(1), March 2010, pp. 57-67 Seasonal influence on settlement, distribution and diversity of fouling organisms at Mumbai harbour B S Swami* & M Udhayakumar Marine Biotechnology Department, Naval Materials Research Laboratory, DRDO, Anandnagar P.O. Ambernath(E) - 421 506, Maharastra India *[E-mail: [email protected]] Received 9 September 2008; revised 15 December 2008 Biofouling at two sites was examined with regard to species abundance (density) and its composition. Sixty species were recorded during the investigation period (2000 – 2001). These species mainly belong to phylum annelida (11 species), bryozoa (22 species), cirripedes (4 species), mollusca (5 species.), coelenterata (6 species), tunicata (10 species) and porifera (2 species). Thirty five species have been recorded from tidal basin. Which is influenced by organic pollutants released through sewage water. Among sixty recorded species, 16 were new records from the region. There is significant variation in density from month to month at Near-shore waters and at Tidal basin. Species settled in pre-monsoon were significantly higher than species settled in monsoon and post monsoon. Settlement pattern varies with seasons at Near-shore waters and at Tidal basin. [Keywords: Biofouling, seasonal variation, density, species composition, pollution, biodiversity] Introduction Mumbai harbour, was aimed at a particular aspect at a Problems related to the settlement of marine particular part of time, was reported periodically. organisms are not confined only to ship hulls and ship Present study elucidates the biodiversity of fouling machinery, but also affects the other shore based species and their settlement pattern under a changing installations such as coastal power stations, chemical scenario in harbour activities. Emphasis was laid to and desalination plants which use sea water as cooling generate information on biofouling with regard to medium. Quality and quantity of fouling assemblage community abundance and species composition at at a given site or environment depend on its biotic and two sites viz. Near-shore waters and Tidal basin of hydrographical conditions. Mumbai harbour. Fouling adds to the weight and volume of the immersed structures, generates debris, induces Materials and Methods corrosion, impairs functioning of moving parts, 1. Exposure sites : In order to assess the settlement, increases drag and creates several other problems 1. As distribution and species composition of biofoulers, a result of this the operational and maintenance costs perspex test coupons were exposed at two study sites get significantly increased 2. The economic loss due to (Fig. 1) of Mumbai harbour (lat. 18° 55' N; long. damage caused by fouling organisms in India is 72° 50' E) during June, 2000- September, 2001. stupendous. About 360 million rupees are spent i) Near-shore waters (St.1) : Near-shore waters is annually to maintain boats and ships to keep them free an open sea having a good tidal flow. It is located at from fouling 3. Oil and Natural Gas Commission the mouth of Thane-Mumbai Bay. Water is relatively (ONGC) spends about Rs.120 million annually to clean and is subject to diurnal tidal flow. Maximum maintain their platforms keeping free from fouling. It depth at this site is 15 metres. has been established that shut down of a 235 MW(e) ii) Tidal basin (St.2): It is semi-enclosed water power station due to biofouling costs about Rs. 40 close to the shore and receives untreated sewage lakhs a day 4. Dead organisms cause local corrosion on through storm water-culvert. During monsoon, a metal surfaces immersed in seawater leading to considerable amount of rain water enters the tidal crevices and pits 5. Due to such adverse consequences basin, causing wide and frequent fluctuations in of fouling, much work has been done on the subject. salinity. The site supports a good growth of sulfate Good amount of information has been generated in reducing bacteria, which contribute to severe Indian tropical waters 6-23 . The works on biofouling at corrosion 24 . The depth of water at this site is 8 metres. 58 INDIAN J. MAR. SCI. VOL. 39 NO. 1, MARCH 2010 kept for air drying for 8-10 days. Data collected were statistically analysed 26 . Results Hydrography : Near shore waters and Tidal basin differ from each other in respect of their water quality. Water quality status at near shore waters remained stable. Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), total suspended solids (TSS) and pH here ranged from 26.2-31.9 °C, 22.12-36.21‰, 3.56-6.57 mg.l -1, 35.6-249.2 mg.l -1 and 7.71–8.15 respectively. In comparison to Near shore waters, the water quality at Tidal basin (St.2) is found to be polluted. Dissolved oxygen content was considerably low and ranged between 0.55 and 7.49 mg.l -1. Salinity fluctuation was wide during monsoon. Temperature, salinity and TSS ranged from 26.8-32.0°C, 16.26-35.81‰ and 6.8-37.6 mg.l -1 respectively. The pH ranged from 7.28-7.95. The low value of 7.28 was recorded in April, 2001. Organic sewage released through storm water-culvert resulted in depletion of dissolved -1 O2 content to an extent of 0.55 mg.l during June, 2001 (Table 1). Biological oxygen demand (BOD) reported in an earlier study was ranged from 36–85 mgl -1. This was reported as polluted 2,24,27- 28 . Characterization of biofouling Near-shore waters (St. 1) Fig. 1—Map showing the study stations (1) Near-shor e waters, (2) Tidal basin Density Sedentary organisms settled on test panels comprised 2. Exposure of the coupons : In field exposure heterogeneous groups. Species mainly belonged to studies for collecting data on various biological phyllum Ectoprocta, Annelida, Arthropoda, Mollusca, aspects, pre-weighed test panels of perspex, (size 15 × and Ascidia (Urochordata). In the present study, 60 16 × 0.4 cm) were bolted on mild steel frames and animal taxa (Table 2) were recorded. were immersed 1 metre below the low tide mark at Figure 2 shows the density (number of individuals each station. A new set of 10-12 test panels was of all species) of biofoul recorded at St. 1 and immersed at every calendar month and an equal St. 2 during different months. During the early period number was withdrawn for examining the biota under of immersion (June-July, 2000), the density was not live condition-non-destructively. uniform. Gradual increase in density was observed 3. Examination of the coupons : Test panels from July to September, 2000. The number of (coupons) were examined under stereo-microscope individuals increased to an extent of 9716/m 2 in (Zeiss). Census of each individual was made using September. Polychaeta and bryozoan species square grid method 25 . A thin perspex sheet was contributed to an extent of 90% of the density. engraved with squares of 1 cm. and superimposed on Density ranged between 1877 and 12,069 the test panel. Biota assessed was characterized with individuals/m 2. Highest growth was recorded during regard to its density and species composition. Coupon September, 2001, whereas low density was recorded area of 15 × 12 cm (180 sq. cm.) was actually in July, 2001. screened. After examination of the biota, the panels The difference between the number of individuals were preserved in 5% formalin for 6 hours and were settled in June and July was insignificant, while SWAMI & UDHAYAKUMAR : SEASONAL INFLUENCE ON SETTLEMENT, DISTRIBUTION AND DIVERSITY 59 [ Table 1 —Hydrographical conditions of Mumbai harbour Period Near shore waters (St.1) Tidal basin (St.2) Temp. pH Saln DO TSS Temp. pH Salin. DO TSS (oC) (ppt.) (mg/l) (mg/l) (oC) (ppt.) (mg/l) (mg/l) Monsoon June’00 31.5 7.77 30.81 5.84 69.20 31.60 7.70 35.57 1.46 25.6 July 29.2 7.86 27.87 5.89 245.60 29.20 7.71 22.21 4.47 14.4 Aug. 29.5 7.85 27.89 5.66 179.60 29.50 7.61 23.08 4.56 21.2 Sept. 29.5 8.15 30.45 6.30 118.40 29.60 7.95 31.40 4.00 37.6 Post-monsoon Oct. 30.3 7.91 34.92 4.47 73.2 31.2 7.86 33.65 2.74 37.2 Nov. 28.7 7.95 34.92 4.47 37.2 29.6 7.85 34.29 3.83 13.6 Dec. 27.0 7.71 35.87 5.21 35.6 27.5 7.49 34.92 7.49 9.6 Jan’01 26.2 7.84 35.50 6.20 40.0 26.8 7.71 34.92 3.56 9.6 Pre-monsoon Feb. 27.2 7.92 35.57 5.2 46.6 27.1 7.77 35.81 4.29 6.8 Mar. 28.1 7.99 34.92 6.29 56.4 28.0 7.75 35.25 5.39 24.8 Apr. 30.4 7.94 36.21 5.29 202.8 30.5 7.28 35.81 1.83 18.8 May 31.1 7.91 36.21 4.19 144.0 30.8 7.68 35.25 2.09 16.0 Monsoon June 31.9 7.88 35.81 3.56 170.0 32. 0 7.61 35.81 0.55 103.6 July 29.3 7.93 23.72 4.47 986.0 29.0 7.66 16.26 5.58 30.8 Aug. 29.1 7.95 22.12 6.57 35.7 28.9 7.78 21.16 3.74 21.2 Sept. 29.3 7.92 31.73 5.82 249.2 29.4 7.83 23.72 4.12 28.6 Temp.= Temperature, Saln.