Spatial variations of crustacean wood borer, Sphaeromaterebrans in mangrove ...

85

Spatial variations of crustacean wood borer,

Sphaeromaterebrans in mangrove of South Andaman Islands

P. Miuimuthu", J. Balasubramaniam IX K.A. Jayaraj

Abstract
Mangroves have a special salt tolerance capacity and act as a natural barrier from high
waves including Tsunami. About 966 km2 of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has covered
by luxuriant mangroves forest. These environments have biotic threats from animals
such as borers and foulers, Sphaeromaterebrans is a crustacean wood borer highly
specialized in boring on prop and stilt roots of mangroves and causes extensive damage
to this vegetation. Sampling of S. terebrans was carried out based on monthly collections
from the mangroves species. Borers were collected from affected prop and stilt roots
mangroves species of Rhizophora apiculata, R. mucronata and Avicennia officinalis from
five different stations located in south Andaman during February-July, 2013 their
distribution pattern was discussed in this article. Results showed that prop roots of R.
apiculaia were severely affected than the other species of mangroves. Extent of attack
by S. ierebrans was noticed on R. apiculata was highest in Flat Bay during the month of
July followed by Corbin's Cove on A. officinalis during June.
Keywords: Crustacean borers, Mangroves, Wood boring isopod,
South Andaman.

Introduction

Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago is situated in the Bay of Bengal, comprises of 572
islands which includes, islets, and rocky outcrops. These islands have luxuriant and
diversified mangrove vegetation of 966 km'and stand next to the Sunderbans in West
Bengal in floristic diversity (Roy et al. 2009). These tidal forests of Andaman Islands
are mostly covered by splendid mangrove species of Rhizophoraceae family followed
by Avicenniaceae and Sonneratiaceae. However, they exist in high saline condition,
extreme tides, heavy wind, high temperature and muddy anaerobic soils. There may
be no other group of plants with such highly developed morphological, biological,
ecological and physiological adaptations to extreme conditions (Kathiresan & Bingham
2001). Mangroves not only function as living dykes, but also fulfil a protective role for

Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University,

BrookshabadCampus, Port Blair - 744 112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
Corresponding author e-mail: marinermuthu@gmail.com.
86 Marine and Coastal Biodiversity

coastlines as a physical barrier. The ecological importance of these forests is reflected

by their function as breeding, spawning, hatching and nursing grounds for young
developmental stages of fish and shellfish (Dahdouh-Guebas & Pulukkuttige 2009).
Human stresses causes most threats to mangrove vegetation, which include over
exploitation, agriculture fertilizers, pollution, urbanization, and deforestation.
Biological destruction can also occur for any type of timber exposed in sea water
including mangroves, and is caused by the concerted activity of a variety of organisms
such as bacteria, fungi and marine boring organisms (Nair & Salim 1994). Pill bugs are
crustacean isopod borers which attack precisely on any type of wood in the intertidal
region. Among the isopod borers, Sphaeroma terebrans is exhibiting a cosmopolitan
distribution and it attacks on live as well as dead mangroves and other dead stumps
lying in mangrove areas (Roy 2006). The most common and destructive wood boring
isopod crustacean in brackish water is S. ierebrans, which has been responsible for
causing extensive damage to both living mangroves trees and wooden structures in
the west coast of India (Rao 1986).The attack of these borers were superficial and mainly
concentrated on the prop and stilt roots of mangroves. Wood boring organisms of
mangrove forests of India have also been reported by various workers (Ganapathi &
Rao 1959; Nair & Dharmaraj 1980; Dharmaraj & Nair 1981; Santhakumaran 1986; Rao
1986).. All these studies have been made on the exposed and submerged wooden
materials of marine and estuarine systems. Six species of sphaeromatidae family such
as Sphaeroma terebrans Bate, S. triste Heller, S. tuberculatum George, S. walker Stebbing,
S. annandalei Stebbing and S. annandalei travencorensis Pillai occur along the Indian
coasts. Of these only S. terebrans and S. triste have been reported from the mangroves
of Andaman Islands (Das & Roy 1984; Tiwari et a1. 1980). The present study aims to
investigate the attack of Sphaeroma ierebrans in the mangrove environment of South
Andaman Islands and the spatial variations in their distribution.

Materials and methods

Extensive field work has been carried out from the month of February to July 2013, in
mangrove regions of South Andaman Islands (between 11027' and 11045' N latitudes
and 92 30' and 92 46' E longitudes) (Figure 7.1). There are widely distributed splendid
0 0

mangrove vegetation in these regions including five different major mangrove habitats
viz. Chidiyatapu (CT), Manjery (MD, Siphighat (SG), Flat bay (FB) and Corbin's Cove
(CC).
The mangrove communities in these areas belong to the families Rhizophoraceae,
Avicenniaceae and Sonneratiaceae, and the dominant family was Rhizophoraceae.
Sample collections have been carried out on monthly basis, during the low tide. Once
in three months sediment samples have been collected for analyzing the texture.
Sphaeromaterebrans have been collected from the attacked prop and stilt roots of
Rhizophora apiculaia, R. mucronata and Avicennia officinalis. R. apiculata was found in all
study areas, whereas. Mucronata was present in SG, MJ and CC and Avicennia officinalis
was present only in Corbin's Cove creek. These pill bugs attack on the roots of
mangroves. The affected root samples were easily noticed with the presence of large
holes, which was covered by hind region (pleotelson) of the borer. Quadruplicate root
samples were randomly collected from the field, immedia tely transferred to polythene
bag and taken to the laboratory for further analysis. Crustacean borers were removed
Spatial variations of crustacean wood borer, Sphaeromaierebrans in mangrove... 87

~ INDIA

Fig. 9.1 : Location of Sampling area

carefully by breaking the wood using chisel and hammer. The organisms' were collected
and preserved in a mixture of 10% of ethanol and glycerine (in 3:1 ratio)
(Santhakumaran 2005). Identification is mainly based on the ornamentation of the
dorsal side of the body as well as the shape of the pleotelson. Sphaeromatidae were
identified using standard taxonomic keys (pillai 1961; Nair & Salim 1994; Santhkumaran
2005).

Results

The hydrographical parameters such as temperature (air, water and soil), salinity,
dissolved oxygen and pH (Water and Soil) have been collected from each station.
Salinity varied in the study area with maximum value from FB in April and minimum
from CT and CC in the month of June (Fig. 9.2A). The variations of temperature have
been shown in Table 9.1. The air temperature fluctuated between 24°C-35°C, soil
temperature and water temperature varied from 21°C to 35°C and 21 °C to 37°C
respectively. The water pH variation expressed the maximum values from CC during
February to April and MJ in April and minimum value from SG in July (Fig. 9.2B).
The amount of dissolved oxygen in water was recorded throughout the study
period and highest during May in FB, MJ in June and SG in July and lowest were
recorded during February in CC (Fig. 9.2C). Sediment texture were not varied much
and showing a moderately fine sediment composition. The sand varied from 22.39 to
48.14, silt ranged from 21.74 to 46.94 and clay fluctuated 20.92 - 39.58 (Table 9.2). The
soil pH variation showed the highest value from MJ in February and lowest noticed
from CT during June and July (Fig. 9.2D).Three types of mangrove species such as
Rhizophora apiculata, R. mucronata and Auicennia officinalis were examined during this
88 Marine and Coastal Biodiversity

study period. High species density of Sphaeroma terebrans was observed in the prop
roots of R. apiculaia in the month of July at Flat Bay followed by Corbin's Cove creek
during June in stilt roots of A. officinalis. The low species density was found in the
month of February from the prop root of R. mucronata at SG and prop roots of R.
apiculaia at MJ (Table 9.3). Borers were absent in the month of February and March in
CC in three mangrove species and completely absent in R. mucronata in MJ.

Table 9.1. Temperature variations in the study area in different months

Temperature
I'

Air Water Soil

CT CC FB MJ SG CT CC FB MJ SG CT CC FB MJ SG

Feb. 31 31 29 32 32 30 30 31 29 31 29 30 31 27 30
Mar. 33 35 33 31 31 32 37 . 32 31 33 30 35 30 30 34
Apr. 32 33 35 34 34 34 34 34 33 35 34 30 33 32 30
May 26 26 27 24 25 28 28 29 21 27 28 28 29 21 28
Jun 25 25 25 26 26 26 27 28 28 27 27 28 28 28 28
July 25 24 25 25 24 26 26 27 27 27 26 25 27 26 27

Table 9.2. Sediment characteristics of the study area

Sand Silt Clay

Months Jan Apr July Jan Apr July Jan I Apr July

CT 22.52 22.39 38.61 34.66 36.03 38.62 39.58 38.62 43.26

CC 31.8 30.8 37.25 33.25 34.96 32.17 30.21 32.17 36.85
FB 39.56 38.56 48.14 23.35 25.71 33.84 34.95 33.84 20.92
MJ 34.12 34.97 36.56 30.07 29.31 30.07 31.25 30.07 31.51
SG 36.45 35.94 45.72 22.25 21.74 40.94 38.25 40.94 30.27

Table 9.3. Population density of S. terebrans in the study area

Stations FB SG CT CC MJ

Mangroves R. a R. a R.m R. a R. a R.m A.o R. a R.m

Feb 4 4 2 4 0 0 0 2 0
Mar 4 3 2 4 0 0 0 3 0
Apr 5 3 3 4 5 6 11 4 0
May 6 9 5 5 6 7 13 5 0
Jun 8 4 7 7 6 6 14 6 0
July 16 5 5 6 12 6 9 9 0

R.a - Rhizophora apiculata, R. m ·Rhizophora mucronata; A.o -Avicennia officinalis.

Discussion

As early as 1865, Heller was the first to report an isopod borer. Sphaeroma triste from
Nicobar Islands. Among the crustacean isopod borers, Sphaeroma terebrans was very
abundant in the mangrove areas of both Andaman and Nicobar Islands attacking live
pneumatophores of Avicennia and Sonneraiia and prop roots and dead stumps of
Spatial variations of crustacean wood borer, Sphaeromaterebrans in mangrove ... 89

40
mnnnommcr ~cc ~'SG: -_ RB' --MJ

35
30
.i!;- 25
-a
~ 20
V'J
15
10
5
0

_ SG
_CT ...... cc -_ FB -MJ
8.5

_
::r:
~
?;
0.

...
8

7.5

7
- ....................
..
-
6.5 (B)
6

5.5
fEB MAR APR JJJN JUL

6
_ c'r - -cc F:a ......,a.-.Mj -::1::- SG

E
btl
>-.
s
(C)
..-.. .... ~ .... .».. Ai;
. -~
.-",*,.~-.:
.. -- 1
~ 4
~"r':":' ~-.;;.;'.. ....,-' ,
~....
Si
> 3 --=>
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0
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0
Fl:B APR JUN JUL

= CT =]';1] _cc -_- FB ...... SG

7

5
:a 4
'5
V'J
3

0
JUL
FEB MAR APR MAY JUN

Months
Figure 9.2 : Distribution of (A) Salinity, (8) water pH, (e) dissolved oxygen, (D) soil pH in the study area
90 Marine and Coastal Biodiversity

Rhizophorasp (Roy 2006). From the present study it was observed that, the attack of
Sphaeromatidae was high in prop roots and stilt roots which locate closer to the
sediment. Santhakumari (1991) found S.terebrans as a chief destroyer of the prop and
stilt roots of the mangroves of Kerala. Kumar (2001) reported that occurrence of
Sphaeroma terebrans from the subsoil, which penetrated 15cm deep into the Cochin
mangrove soil, showed burrowing potential and survival in that area. Si et al. (2002)
found that this species, filter out particulate material from the water column, with the
help of filtering setae on the first three pairs of pereiopods. The mandibles might be
designed to scrape pieces of wood from the cavity wall during boring and rest of the
mouth parts suited for microphagous feeding.
Present survey shows that highest species density was recorded in the month of
July in FB where low salinity was noticed. CC showed highest density of S. terebrans in
Avicennia officinalis during June where salinity was low. This shows their euryhaline
nature and may playa major role in the growth and reproduction of S.terebrans in the
mangrove environment. John (1969) concluded from laboratory experiments that
salinity conditions for growth and reproduction of S. terebrans varied with salinity
range of 4-28 ppt. pH and temperature gradually decreased from the month of April
to July, while dissolved oxygen showed an increase towards July. Kumar (2001) stated
that there is no correlation of physico-chemical parameters of both water and soil in
mangrove environment. The lowest species density values were recorded from the
month of February to April in the study area where pH and temperature variables
were observed in higher range than the month of May to July.
Present study observed the abundance of borer S. terebrans in the south Andaman
Islands. Earlier workers have been collected S. terebrans and S. triste, the crustacean
wood boring isopods from different mangrove areas of Andaman Islands (Das & Dev
Roy 1980, 1981, 1984a, band 1989; Dev Roy & Das 1985; Tiwari et al. 1980). S. triste
which was endemic to Bay Islands was only reported from the Little Andaman and
not observed in the present study.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Pondicherry University for the financial support during
this work and to the Principle Chief Conservator of Forest, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands for providing permission to do this project in mangrove environment. They
also owe gratitude to Dr. L.N. Santhakumaran, Scientist (Rtd.), Forest Research
Laboratory, Bangalore and Dr. M.K. Dev Roy scientist, Zoological Survey of India,
Kolkata, for providing support for the identification of marine borers.

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