Volume : IV, Issue : III, March - 2014

Distribution, Abundance and Species Composition of Seagrasses in Wadi El Gemal National Park, Red Sea, Egypt

Amgad A. El Shaffai, Mahmoud H. Hanafy, And Ali A F. A. Gab Alla

Abstract :

Distribution, coverage and the species composition for seagrasses along 89 km of the shoreline of Wadi El Gemal National Park (WGNP) in the southern of Egyptian Red Sea coast. 26 meadows of seagrass were marked, mapped and seagrass diversity and abundance were investigated. Eleven species of seagrasses were recorded; four species were new records to the whole Red Sea, the Egyptian waters of the Red Sea and WGNP. Halodule pinifolia (Miki) den Hartog is newly recorded to the whole Red Sea, while Enhalus acoroides (L.f.) Royle, represents a new record to the Egyptian waters of the Red Sea. Halophila decipiens Ostenfeld and Cymodocea serrulata (R.Brown) Ascherson were recorded for the first time in the area of WGNP. The total area of meadows estimated 1783.08 ha with range 498.2 ha to 0.024 ha. The seagrass coverage ranged between (82.5% ±8.7) and (17.5% ±8) in different sites. However, the higher overall mean coverage was recorded at sheltered sites than exposed sites. H. stipulacea was the most dominant species. The total coverage of seagrass found to be higher at shallower and deeper waters, rather than the middle depths of 5–20m. The highest richness value was 1.001 in front of Wadi El Gemal catchment basin, while the depth 0–5m (1.495) had the highest richness and evenness.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Amgad A. El Shaffai, Mahmoud H. Hanafy, and Ali A-F. A. Gab-Alla Distribution, Abundance and Species Composition of Seagrasses in Wadi El Gemal National Park, Red Sea, Egypt Indian Journal of Applied Research, Vol.IV, Issue. III

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