Coastal Alterations and Its Impact on Diversity of Macrobenthic Fauna in the Intertidal Zone of Abu Dhabi Western Coast (UAE)

Coastal Alterations and Its Impact on Diversity of Macrobenthic Fauna in the Intertidal Zone of Abu Dhabi Western Coast (UAE)

The community structure of macrobenthic fauna in the intertidal zones at two locations, along the west coast of Abu Dhabi (UAE) have investigated. The two locations, Tarif and Radim, have experienced human impacts represented in coastal alteration due to both dredging and nourishment activities. In each location three sediments samples were collected from a transect that extended from high tide mark on the beach to low tide in the sea direction. Forty-four taxa were recorded that belonging to five groups representing the macrobenthic faunal assemblages in the two locations namely, Foraminifera, Mollusca (Gastropods and Bivalves), Insects, Crustaceans (Maxillopoda and Malacostraca), and Polychaetes. In both locations, Foraminifera dominated the samples followed by Mollusca. The obtained results highlighted the differences in species composition and their distribution not only between the two studied locations but also within the different stations of the same transect. Moreover, the statistical analyses have shown that correlations between grain sizes percentage in the different stations and the percentage composition of the faunal communities in each transect was not significant p = 0.07 in Tarif and p = 0.62 in Radim). The presences of abnormalities in considerable number of the Foraminifera species Peneroplis sp. could be due to its translocation with sediments from stressed environment to the study site. The study showed the extent to which coastal alteration can disturb the established macrobenthic fauna communities and their recovery might extend to several years.