Microalgae community colonizing on microplastic in Bandar Lampung Mangrove Area, Lampung

This paper was not presented at the conference.

Abstract

This paper was not presented at the conference.

Mangrove ecosystem provide a place to live for many different biota including microalgae and the presence of microplastics could be potential threats to the organisms. The presence of microalgae community colonizing on microplastics called epimicroplastic microalgae. This study was conducted to analyze the composition of microalgae community in epimicroplastic compared with microalgae in sediment surface and water columns also to analyze the environmental factors that affect the abundance of microalgae.  This study carried out in mangrove area in Bandar Lampung, Lampung Indonesia. A quantitative descriptive method was applied with data collection used a purposive sampling method. Their abundance and diversity exhibits variations between epimicroplastic, pelagic and sedimentary habitats were noticed. The Simpson Index and Pielou Evenness Index of epimicroplastic microalgae community were significantly lower than planktonic microalgae community (P < 0.05). Similarity analysis using the NMDS (non-metric multidimensional scaling) showed that there was no similarity among the three sub-habitats, each site had variation. The CCA (canonical correspondence analysis) analysis showed that The diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) were dominated in all habitats, indicating its high adaptability. This research provides the information of microalgae diversity based on sub-habitats, and  imply that particular habitat has a unique microalgae diversity and preserving diverse habitat types is important.

Keywords. Diversity, Habitat, Microalgae, Microplastic, Mangrove.