Analysis Of Density And Diversity Data Of Marine Nematode Along The Kenyan Coast

Abstract

The data used in this study was obtained from Muthumbi, 1998 (PhD thesis) and Muthumbi et al, (2004) based on the Western Indian Ocean off Kenyan coast. The effect of the depth, locality and seasons were examined. The physical factors affecting the productivity in the sea i.e. oxygen concentration, food availability and graunometry were measured. Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Covariance were run to determine the factors that had significant effect on the Nematodes density. The composition and diversity of the nematode was examined by use of Hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Dendrogram was used to represent the information diagrammatically. The effect of Transect and Depth was highly significant on the Nematode densities with seasons not having a significant effect. The nematode density varied form 112-1350 ind/cm2. The density decreased with increase in water depth up to 1338m and then there was slight increase. This increase was a result of the oxygen concentration increasing after the 1000m depth. The Monhyestra genus dominated the Western Indian Ocean and it dominated the deep slope. The upper slope was dominated by Terschellingia genus and the middle slope was dominated by Sabatieria, Deptonema and Halalaimus genus where the oxygen concentration was at minimal. Most of the genera were identified in the upper slope between 50m-200m.