Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Factors Affecting Macrobenthic Fauna in a Tropical Hypersaline Coastal Lagoon in Ghana, West Africa

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The macrobenthic fauna in the large, hypersaline, shallow Keta lagoon in Ghana was sampled at 20 stations in the wet (September 2002) and dry seasons (March 2003) to elucidate the effects of abiotic factors on community patterns. The macrobenthic fauna was low in density and species diversity and numerically dominated by bivalves and capitellid polychaetes. These organisms appear able to withstand physical disturbance (when lagoon water levels become extremely low) and osmotic stress (when salinities are extremely high) and tend to redistribute along environmental gradients. Parallel seasonal differences in several environmental variables and the macrobenthic fauna indicate a highly dynamic system. Species richness and diversity were higher in the wet season than the dry season. Salinity, percent clay, pH, and turbidity in that order were the major significant variables structuring the macrobenthic faunal assemblage in Keta lagoon. The strong effect of seasonal salinity changes on macrobenthic faunal assemblages may have trophic consequences for higher organisms of commercial importance, such as fishes and shorebirds, in the Keta lagoon.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ababio, S. D. 2001. The population parameters, food habitats and physico-chemical environment of three Cichlid species in the southwestern sector of the Keta lagoon. MPhil Thesis. University of Ghana, Legon.

  • Addo, S. 2000. The Acadja fishery of the Keta lagoon. MPhil Thesis. University of Ghana, Legon.

  • Agyekumhene, A. 2004. Primary productivity of the dredged channel of the Keta lagoon, BSc Project. Legon: University of Ghana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akpati, B.N. 1975. Geological structure and evolution of Keta Basin. Ghana Geological Survey. Report No. 75/3, Ghana.

  • Alongi, D.M. 1989. Ecology of tropical soft-bottom benthos: A review with emphasis on emerging concepts. Revista de Biologia Tropical 371: 85–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alongi, D.M. 1990. The ecology of tropical soft-bottom benthic ecosystems. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 28: 381–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alongi, D.M., and A. Sasekumar. 1992. Benthic communities. In Tropical mangrove ecosystems. Coastal and estuarine studies 41, eds. A.I. Robertson, and D.M. Alongi, 137–171. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amanieu, M., and G. Lassere. 1982. Organisation et évolution des peuplements lagunaires. In G. Lassere, and H. Postma (eds), Les lagunes Côtières. Special volume of Océanologica Acta 201–213.

  • A.P.H.A., A.W.W.A., and W.E.F. 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. 20Washington: American Public Health Association (A.P.H.A.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Armah, A.K. 1993. Coastal wetlands of Ghana. Coastal Zone 93: 313–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arvanitidis, C., D. Koutsoubas, C. Dounas, and A. Eleftheriou. 1999. Annelid fauna of a Mediterranean lagoon (Gialova lagoon, south–west Greece): Community structure in a severely fluctuating environment. Journal of the Marine Biological Association, UK 79: 849–856. doi:10.1017/S0025315499001010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, R.S.K. 1980. Coastal lagoons. The natural history of a neglected habitat. Cambridge Studies in Modern Biology 1: 1–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biney, C.A. 1986. Preliminary physico-chemical studies of lagoons along the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana. Tropical Ecology 27: 147–156.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bouyoucos, G.J. 1934. The hydrometer method for making mechanical analysis of soil. Soil Science 38: 335–343.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho, P., S.M. Thomaz, and L.M. Bini. 2003. Effects of water level, abiotic and biotic factors on bacterioplankton abundance in lagoons of a tropical floodplain (Paraná River, Brazil). Hydrobiologia 510: 67–74. doi:10.1023/B:HYDR.0000008532.71152.38.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, K.R. 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117–143. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.1993.tb00438.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, K.R., and R.H. Green. 1988. Statistical design and analysis for ‘biological effects’ study. Marine Ecology Progress Series 46: 213–226. doi:10.3354/meps046213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, K.R., and R.M. Warwick. 1994. Changes in Marine Communities. An approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. Natural Environment Research Council, UK, 144 pp.

  • Clarke, K.R., and R.N. Gorley. 2006. PRIMER v6: User manual/tutorial. PRIMER-E, Plymouth, UK.

  • Colwell, K.R., and S.L. Landrum. 1993. Nonrandom shorebird distribution and fine-scale variation in prey abundance. Condor 95: 94–103. doi:10.2307/1369390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, J.H. 1967a. A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Part 1 Errantia, Trustees of the British Museum London, 458 pp.

  • Day, J.H. 1967b. A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Part II Sedentaria, Trustees of the British Museum London, 877 pp.

  • Dayton, P.K. 1984. Processes structuring some marine communities: Are they general? In Ecological communities: Conceptual issues and evidence, eds. D.R. Strong Jr, D. Simberloff, L.G. Abele, and A.B. Thistle, 181–197. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, K.B., and G. Benneh. 1988. A new geography of Ghana. London: London Group of Companies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds, J. 1978. Sea shells and other molluscs found on West African Coast and Estuaries. Ghana Universities Press, 164 pp.

  • Entsua-Mensah M., and H.R. Dankwa. 1997. Traditional knowledge and management of lagoon fisheries in Ghana. Water Research Institute, Technical Report No. 160.

  • ESL/RPI/GLDD. 2004. Environmental monitoring reports (2001–2004) of the Keta Sea Defence Project Works (KSDPW). Technical Report, Environmental Protection Agency

  • Fauchald, K., and P.A. Jumars. 1979. The diet of worms: A study of polychaete feeding guilds. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 17: 193–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlayson, C.M., C. Gordon, Y. Ntiamoa-Baidu, S. Tumbulto, and M. Storrs. 2000. The hydrobiology of Keta and Songor lagoons: Implications for coastal wetland management in Ghana. Supervising Scientist Report 152, Supervising Scientist, Darwin.

  • Flint, R.W. 1981. Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf benthos macrofaunal–environmental relationships. Biological Oceanography 1: 135–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • García de Lomas, J., A. Corzo, C.M. García, and S.A. van Bergeijk. 2005. Microbenthos in a hypersaline tidal lagoon: Factors affecting microhabitat, community structure and mass exchange at the sediment–water interface. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 38: 53–69. doi:10.3354/ame038053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, C. 2000. Hypersaline lagoons as conservation habitats: Macroinvertebrates at Muni Lagoon, Ghana. Biodiversity and Conservation 9: 465–478. doi:10.1023/A:1008906503227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grassle, J.P., and J.F. Grassle. 1976. Sibling species in the marine pollution indicator Capitella (Polychaeta). Science 192: 567–569. doi:10.1126/science.1257794.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J.S. 1974. Animal–sediment relationships. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 12: 223–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J.S. 1981. The ecology of marine sediments. U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J.S., R.S.S. Wu, and Y.Y. Or. 2002. Effects of hypoxia and organic enrichment on the coastal marine environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 238: 249–279. doi:10.3354/meps238249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guelorget, O., and J.P. Perthuisot. 1983. Le domaine paralique. Expressiion géologiques, biologiques du confinement. Travaux du Laboratoire de Geologie. Presses de l’Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, 16, 136 pp.

  • Guelorget, O., and J.P. Perthuisot. 1992. Paralic ecosystems. Biological organization and functioning. Vie et Milieu 42: 215–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guille, A. 1970. Benthic bionomy of continental shelf of the French Catalane Coast.II. Benthic communities of the macrofauna. Vie et Milieu 218: 149–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagberg, J., and B.G. Tunberg. 2000. Studies on the co-variation between physical factors and the long-term variation of the marine soft-bottom macrofauna in Western Sweden. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 50: 373–385. doi:10.1006/ecss.1999.0578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera-Silveira, J.A. 1994. Spatial heterogeneity and seasonal patterns in a tropical coastal lagoon. Journal of Coastal Research 103: 738–746.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kjerfve, B. 1994. Coastal lagoons. In Coastal lagoon processes, ed. B. Kjerfve, 1–8. Amsterdam: Elsevier Oceanographic Series.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kwei, E.A. 1977. Biological, chemical and hydrological characters of coastal lagoons of Ghana. West Africa. Hydrobiologia 562: 157–174. doi:10.1007/BF00023355.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lambshead, P.J.D., H.M. Platt, and K.M. Shaw. 1983. The detection of differences among assemblages of marine benthic species based on an assessment of dominance and diversity. Journal of Natural History 17: 859–874. doi:10.1080/00222938300770671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang, S.H., B.S. Shieh, and Y.S. Fu. 2002. A structural equation model for physico-chemical variables of water, benthic invertebrates and feeding activity of waterbirds in the Sitsao wetlands of Southern Taiwan. Zoological Studies 414: 441–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macintosh, D.J. 1994. Aquaculture in coastal lagoons. In Coastal lagoon processes, ed. B. Kjerfve. Elsevier Oceanography Series 60. Amsterdam. 577 pp.

  • Marcovecchio, J., H. Freije, S. De Marco, A. Gavio, L. Ferrer, S. Andrade, O. Beltrame, and R. Asteasuain. 2005. Seasonality of hydrographic variables in a coastal lagoon: Mar Chiquita, Argentina. Aquatic Conservation 16: 335–347. doi:10.1002/aqc.719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mistri, M., E.A. Fano, G. Rossi, K. Caselli, and R. Rossi. 2000. Variability in macrobenthos communities in the Valli di Comacchio, northern Italy, an hypereutrophized lagoonal ecosystem. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 51: 599–611. doi:10.1006/ecss.2000.0697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mistri, M., R. Rossi, and E.A. Fano. 2001. Structure and secondary production of a soft bottom macrobenthic community in a brackish lagoon (Sacca di Goro, north-eastern Italy). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 52: 605–616. doi:10.1006/ecss.2001.0757.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newell, R.C. 1970. Biology of intertidal animals. 555. New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolaidou, A., F. Bourgoutzani, A. Zenetos, O. Guelorget, and J.P. Perthuisot. 1988. Distribution of molluscs and polychaetes in coastal lagoons in Greece. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 26: 337–350. doi:10.1016/0272-7714(88)90016-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, S.W. 1982. Nutrient dynamics, primary production and fisheries yield of lagoons. In Les Lagunes Côtiére, special volume P. Lassere and H. Postma (ed.), pp 357–371. Océanologia Acta. European Journal of Oceanography Proceedings Symposium. SCOR-IABO-UNESCO, Bordeaux, France

  • Pielou, E.C. 1966. The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. Journal of Theoretical Biology 13: 131–144. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(66)90013-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piersma, T., and Y. Ntiamoa-Baidu 1995. Waterbird ecology and the management of coastal wetlands in Ghana. NIOZ Report 4, Texel, The Netherlands.

  • Posey, M.H. 1986. Changes in a benthic community associated with dense beds of a burrowing deposit feeder. Callianassa californiensis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 56: 958–965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posey, M.H., T.D. Alphin, S. Banner, F. Vose, and W. Lindberg. 1998. Temporal variability, diversity and guild structure of a benthic community in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 631: 143–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhoads, D.C. 1974. Organism–sediment relations on the muddy seafloor. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 12: 263–300.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sconfietti, R., A. Marchini, A.O. Ambrogi, and C.F. Sacchi. 2003. The sessile benthic community patterns on hard bottoms in response to continental vs. marine influence in northern Adriatic lagoons. Oceanologica Acta 26: 47–56. doi:10.1016/S0399-1784(02)01228-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shannon, C.E., and W. Weaver. 1963. The mathematical theory of communication. 111. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shenker, J.M., H.J. Dankwa, P.K. Ofori-Danson, and Y. Ntiamoa-Baidu. 1998. Ghana coastal wetlands management project. Environmental baseline studies. Fisheries of Keta and Sorgor lagoons final report.

  • Sørensen, T.H., G. Vølund, A.K. Armah, C. Christiansen, L.B. Jensen, and J.T. Pedersen. 2003. Temporal and spatial variations in concentrations of sediment nutrients and carbon in the Keta lagoon, Ghana. West African Journal of Applied Ecology 4: 89–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak, C.J.F. 1986. Canonical correspondence analysis: A new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67: 1167–1179. doi:10.2307/1938672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak, C.J.F., and P.F.M. Verdonschot. 1995. Canonical correspondence analysis and related multivariate methods in aquatic ecology. Aquatic Science 57: 255–289. doi:10.1007/BF00877430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak, C.J.F., and P. Smilauer. 1998. CANOCO Reference Manual and user’s guide to Canoco for windows: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (version 4). Ithaca, NY: Microcomputer Power.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak, C.J.F., and P. Smilauer. 2002. CANOCO Reference Manual and user’s guide to Canoco for windows: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (version 4.45). Ithaca, NY: Microcomputer Power.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vodzogbe, B.K. 1994. Traditional conservation practices among the Ewes around the Keta lagoon: A case study. BSc. Dissertation. University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

  • Warwick, R.M., and K.R. Clarke. 1991. A comparison of some methods for analyzing changes in benthic community structure. Journal of the Marine Biological Association UK 71: 225–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wieser, W. 1959. The effect of grain size on the distribution of small invertebrates inhabiting the beaches of Puget Sound. Limnology and Oceanography 4: 181–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yankson, K. 1982. Gonad maturation and sexuality in West African bloody cockle, Anadara senilis (L.). Journal of Molluscan Studies 48: 294–300.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Our profound gratitude to Environmental Solutions (Accra, Ghana) for supporting the study. We also recognize the immense assistance by Messrs. E. Klubi and E. Armah during the fieldwork.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 99, Legon, Ghana

    Emmanuel Lamptey & Ayaa Kojo Armah

Authors
  1. Emmanuel Lamptey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ayaa Kojo Armah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emmanuel Lamptey.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lamptey, E., Armah, A.K. Factors Affecting Macrobenthic Fauna in a Tropical Hypersaline Coastal Lagoon in Ghana, West Africa. Estuaries and Coasts 31, 1006–1019 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9079-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9079-y

Keywords