Assessment of litter in the remote beaches of Lakshadweep Islands, Arabian Sea.

The objective of this study was to obtain baseline data on litter from three beaches of the Lakshadweep Islands (Kadmat, Suheli Par, and Minicoy). At each site, three transects of 20 × 20 m of the foreshore and intertidal zone were sampled during low tide. All macro litter (size >2.5 cm to <1 m) within each transect were collected and counted. A total of 1231 litter items belonging to 22 categories were recorded. The highest average abundance (193 ± 97 items/400 m2) of marine litter was found in Kadmat, followed by Suheli Par (154 ± 31items/400 m2) and Minicoy (63 ± 49 items/400 m2) islands. The Clean Coast Index (CCI) suggests that Minicoy Island has a clean beach (CCI 3.15) while Suheli Par (CCI 8) and Kadmat (CCI 10) were moderate. The primary contributing sources of litter on the beaches were fishing (45%) and public (34%). Better management practices are required to control litter sources.

Environmental gradient favours functionally diverse macrobenthic community in a placer rich tropical bay.

The present paper examines the functional diversity-environment relation in a placer rich tropical bay. Understanding the environmental variables that determine the biodiversity pattern will help in the effective conservation plans of coastal habitat. However, few studies have been carried out on the biodiversity-environment relation from the diverse tropical coastal ecosystem. The geographic location of Kalbadevi Bay along the west coast of India provides an opportunity to study the functional diversity pattern of macrofauna along an environmental gradient. Additionally, the area is also a potential placer mining site. Seasonal sampling was carried out for macrofauna and environmental variables. Macrofaunal functional diversity showed significant temporal variation related to the environmental parameters. The most important environmental variables were organic matter and sediment texture. Filter feeders dominated during postmonsoon which is a period when the water column is enriched with sinking detritus. The deposit feeders which rapidly ingest the settled detritus and also transport it to deeper sediment for the subsurface deposit feeders dominated during premonsoon. Abundance of carnivores was high during premonsoon, a response to increase in food in terms of deposit feeders. The result thus indicates that the temporal environmental variation influenced the macrofaunal functional diversity pattern in the Kalbadevi Bay.