Hubungan Kelimpahan Relatif Karang Hidup Dengan Kepadatan Megabentos Di Perairan Waworaha Sulawesi Tenggara

Abstract

Terumbu karang merupakan ekosistem yang subur dan kaya akan makanan. Megabentos merupakan salah satu komunitas hewan bentik yang berasosiasi dengan terumbu karang. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu untuk mengetahui kepadatan megabentos (bulu babi, bintang laut, teripang, lola, kima, lobster, siput drupella, dan bintang laut berduri), mengetahui kelimpahan relatif karang hidup serta hubungan kelimpahan relatif karang hidup dengan kepadatan megabentos di Perairan Waworaha Provinsi Sulawesi Tenggara. Pengambilan data kondisi karang dan fauna megabentos dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode Belt Transect yang ditarik sejajar garis pantai dengan luasan 350 m². Hasil penelitian yang didapatkan pada tiap stasiun adalah persentase kelimpahan relatif karang hidup di perairan waworaha termasuk tinggi dengan rata-rata persentase kelimpahan relatif karang hidup sebesar 70,28%. Nilai rata-rata kepadatan megabentos adalah 0,070 ind/m² dengan kepadatan tertinggi terdapat pada stasiun 3 yaitu 0,096 ind/m², dan kepadatan megabentos terendah terdapat pada stasiun 1 yaitu 0,030 ind/m². Perhitungan nilai hubungan kelimpahan relatif karang hidup dengan kepadatan megabentos didapatkan nilai r sebesar 0.929 bernilai positif yang artinya kelimpahan relatif karang hidup dan kepadatan megabentos memiliki hubungan yang sangat kuat.Kata kunci: Karang, Kepadatan, Megabentos, Waworaha

Pioneer assessment on megabenthic community suggest the recent ecological condition of coral reef in Senggigi Beach, Western Lombok Island, Indonesia

“…This COT's dietary preference is very useful to compensate for population growth between slow-and fast-growing corals. COT generally comprises 0-1% of megabenthos communities in healthy coral reefs, as confirmed by survey data reported by Cappenberg and Mahulette (2019), Satyawan and Artiningrum (2019), Akbar (2020), andWulandari et al (2020). COT outbreaks are mainly triggered by a declining population of their natural predators, such as the large endangered triton snail (Charonia tritonis) (Bose et al 2017), and various reef fish like pomacanthid, lethrinid, chaetodontid, balistid, tetraodontid, and labrid.…”

“…The density of drupella snail population in Senggigi Beach is much lower than those from Perlang village waters, Bangka Belitung (Akbar et al 2019), Kendari waters (Arbi et al 2020), or East Sumba waters (Cappenberg and Akbar 2020). However, the density of drupella snail in Senggigi Beach is slightly higher than the drupella's density from the nearest waters, which is in Sekotong Bay (Ghafari et al 2020), or from other areas such as from Buton Island (Cappenberg and Mahulette 2019) and Waworaha waters (Wulandari et al 2020). The low drupella's density in Senggigi Beach could be due to degraded coral cover after previous bleaching (Saponari et al 2021), or due to the presence of coral guards, such as deterring hydrozoans (Montano et al 2017) and coral crab Trapezia cymodoce (Samsuri et al 2018), which was unable to observe in this study.…”

“…Overall result shows that the overall abundance of megabenthic community has dropped by 0.047 ind•m -2 (or 467 ind•ha -1 ) over the past 2 years. A declining abundance of megabenthos communities may indicate a decrease in live coral cover (Wulandari et al 2020). It is also found that the fluctuations of the environmental parameter are strongly correlated with changes in benthic community abundance (Coyle et al 2007;Ghafari et al 2020).…”

The condition of megabenthos and reef fish in coral reef ecosystems in Aru Islands National Conservation Area, Southeast Maluku, Indonesia

“…The density of Drupella in the Aru Islands was lower than those from the waters of Perlang Village, Bangka Belitung [25], Kendari waters [26] or East Sumba waters [20]. However, the density of Drupella snails in Senggigi Beach was slightly higher than the density of Drupella from nearby waters, namely in Sekotong Bay [27] or other areas such as Buton Island [19] and Waworaha waters [28]. The presence of Drupella at low densities does not significantly impact damage to coral species targeted by their prey.…”