Investigating distribution and biomass of two species of brown algae (Colpomenia sinuosa and Iyengaria stellata) in coastal waters of Hormozgan Province, southern Iran

Abstract

This study was performed to investigating distribution and biomass of two species of brown algae (Colpomenia sinuosa and Iyengaria stellata) in coastal waters of Hormozgan Province, Southern Iran. We sampled the algae over the years 2001 to 2002 in low tide periods using random 0.5 * 0.5 quadrats along a transect passing through six sampling stations. The highest distribution extent of the two brown algae species during winter and spring seasons observed which coincided with the highest fluctuation in their biomass. The maximum biomass of C. sinuosa in winter and spring was 142 and 75 grams/m2 respectively. For I. stellata, the maximum biomass in the two seasons was 208 and 189 Grams/m2 respectively. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference among the biomass of the two algae species over different months and seasons of the year (p<0.05). Hence, we concluded that the species occurrence is seasonal and did not find a significant difference in the biomass of the two species obtained from different sampling stations. However, species appearance in different stations occurred in different months with the western stations showing a 1 to 2 months’ time lag compared to that of the eastern stations.