Macrobenthic Community Structure - An Approach to Assess Coastal Water Pollution in Bangladesh

Abstract

A research on the assemblages of benthic macro faunal community in the coastal areas of Bangladesh was conducted during February-March, 2015 following the standard methods to assess the status of environmental pollution. The abundance (r=0.846) and species richness (r=0.864) of the macrobenthic communities were significantly influenced by the water salinity of the sampling sites (p ≤ 0.05). Both the study areas namely the Bakkhali River Estuary and the Meghna River Estuary showing the highest (3909 ± 540 ind./m2) and lowest (2236 ± 689 ind./m2) density of benthic macrofaunal abundance respectively might be considered as moderately polluted areas according to the results obtained from Shannon-Wiener index of species diversity (2.69 ± 0.13 and 2.00 ± 0.11 respectively) and Margalef's species richness (2.21 ± 0.43 and 1.36 ± 0.11 respectively). Therefore, it is plausible that the macrobenthic community explained in the present study might be a key future outline to assess the status of coastal water pollution of those concerned areas of Bangladesh.