Diversity of Phytoplankton in The Mangrove Area of Kerteh River: A Preliminary Study

Abstract Mangroves, the world’s most productive ecosystem, harbour thousands of species of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are the responsible microorganisms allowing mangroves to serve the ecosystem services. Unfortunately, this ecosystem is currently at threat due to various reasons. A study was carried out in a mangrove ecosystem at Kerteh River, Terengganu. Kerteh River is currently facing metal pollution problem that caused by the rapid industrialization. This problem is at high potential to directly impact the composition and abundance of phytoplankton. Therefore, this study was planned to determine the spatial species diversity of phytoplankton at three different stations at selected Kerteh River mangrove area. One off sampling was carried out for two days in August 2019. Three stations were established along the selected Kerteh River area based on the stations exposure to anthropogenic activities. Fifty-six phytoplankton species of four divisions were recorded in this present study. Forty-five species were of Bacillariophyta followed by four species of Chlorophyta, five species of Dinophyta and one species of Cyanophyta. The ranges of phytoplankton diversity indices (H’) and equitability (J’) at Kerteh River were 2.60 to 3.0 and 0.75 to 0.80, respectively. A One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) shows a significant different in the diversity of phytoplankton between stations (p<0.05). Chaetoceros curvisetus was the species with the highest relative abundance at Station 1 and 3, while at Station 2, it was the Frustulia vulgaris. There were five species of Dinoflagellate recorded at the study site, the Ceratium sp, Dinophysis sp., Protoperidinium pallidum, Protoperidinium sp1 and Protoperidinium sp2. The preliminary record on the phytoplankton species at Kerteh River hopefully can provide insight on the impact in the shift made by current and emerging anthropogenic activities at the area.