Mukri, Mohamad Salleh (2025) The Ecological Role Of Mangrove Crabs In Mangrove Forests Of Penang Island. Masters thesis, Perpustakaan Hamzah Sendut.
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Abstract
Mangrove crabs are important ecosystem engineers that influence sediment properties, nutrient dynamics, and vegetation development in intertidal mangrove forests. This study aimed to (1) assess the assemblage composition of mangrove crabs across spatiotemporal distributions, and determine correlations between crab abundance and diversity with environmental variables, and (2) examine the potential ecological roles of mangrove crabs on sediment properties and mangrove sapling growth through manipulative field experiments.In balik pulau, penang, malaysia. A total of 1,093 crab individuals, representing 13 species, mostly from the family sesarmidae were recorded. Significant variation in crab assemblage composition was observed across sites and sampling periods (permanova: p = 0.001), with perisesarma eumolpe and p. Foresti contributing over 60% of observed variation (simper analysis). These assemblage patterns were significantly correlated with environmental variables including sediment ph, salinity, canopy cover, and root density (best: ρ = 0.129, p = 0.002). In the experimental study, permanova results indicated significant differences in sediment conditions across cage treatments (p < 0.05). Across the exclusion, control and open cage treatments, sapling responses were different: height growth was greatest in exclusion cages (7.94 ± 1.73 cm), while leaf production was highest in control treatment (7.16 ± 0.70 leaves), suggesting a trade-off between the physical disturbance from crabs and the benefits of enhanced nutrient cycling.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH1-278.5 Natural history (General) |
| Divisions: | Pusat Pengajian Sains Kajihayat (School of Biological Sciences) > Thesis |
| Depositing User: | Mr Hasmizar Mansor |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jun 2026 00:48 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2026 00:48 |
| URI: | http://eprints.usm.my/id/eprint/64419 |
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