Proposed Topic/Title of Research: The role of nutrient dynamics on the incthyoplankton community in the Penang mangrove, Malaysia Background:

Mangroves are woody trees or shrubs that grow in mangrove habitats or Mangal (Hogarth, 1999). Mangrove areas contain some 54 species of trees in 20 genera, belonging to 16 families that constitute the "true mangroves" species that occur exclusively in mangrove habitats and rarely elsewhere (Hogarth, 1999). The mangrove forest is an inherent part of livelihood of adjacent fishermen since it is closely related to fish catch. Without mangroves there will be no fish in the sea since they play a vital role as intermediaries between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Mangrove forests provide food and shelter for fish, shrimp, crab etc. and support commercial and recreational fisheries (Wosten. 2003). Mangroves are important to maintain the diversity of coastal ecosystems by contributing quantities of food/nutrients and providing favourable habitats for other plants and animals (Tomilson, 1986). Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the elements most essential to a variety of biological and chemical processes at the organism level (Kumar et.al. 2011). Mangrove forests depend mostly on the nutrients from sediment which may receive replenishment of nutrient supplies form periodic flooding (Kumar et.al. 2011). Several studies indicate those mangroves are nutrient limited, mainly of N and P. ((Akamatsu et.al. 2009, Islam et.al. 2008, Uchiyama et.al. 2000, Boto and Wellington, 1983). Kumar et.al. 2011 examined the biological cycling and dynamics of N, P and K elements between mangrove plants and the sediments in the Vamleshwar mangrove forest, India. The mangrove sediment dynamics are largely regulated by both internal (flocculation, dissolution, mixing, etc.) and external (e.g. river input, agricultural runoff, pollution) factors (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). The biogeochemical processes in mangrove sediments are tightly coupled with the sediment texture and mineralogy and which in turn control the distribution of nutrients in sediments (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). Thus,

this paper aims to elucidate the various biogeochemical processes of nutrients in the anoxic sediments of the Pichavaram ecosystem (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). The concentration level of nutrients in the mangrove sediments is largely influenced by the microbial activities (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). The mangrove sediments are anoxic (Purvaja et al., 2004). The growth and productivity of mangroves are strongly related to the benthic nutrient pools and nutrient transformations by the microbial decomposition of organic matter (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). Mangroves have a strong control over the nutrient biogeochemical cycles (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). The mangrove ecosystems are highly productive intertidal forests distributed along the tropical coast (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). The mangrove forests in the sheltered boggy hydro-environments facilitate the deposition of fine sediments normally enriched with nutrients, metals and minerals (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). Thus, the mangrove environment offers an ideal experimental site to study a number of biogeochemical, hydrogeochemical and hydrological processes (Prasad and Ramanathan, 2008). Generally, the mangrove sediments are reducing in nature (Alongiet al., 2005; Prasad, 2005) and contain high amounts of organic matter and ammonia (Morell and Corredor, 1993). The mangrove ecosystems, therefore, supply a substantially larger amount of carbon to the coastalwaters than the rivers and influence the global biogeochemical cycling of nutrients (Dittmar et al., 2006). The mangrove ecosystem is generally regarded as both a sink for nutrients and dissolved minerals and a source of organic matter (Boto, 1982). Goal of Study: Thus, studying the nutrient dynamics, phytoplankton dynamics and ichthyoplankton dynamics in different areas of Penang Mangrove, this studies will be able to provide valuable information and improve our understanding of interrelationship between ichthyoplankton abundance and nutrient dynamics of mangrove.

Methodology: In the study area, surface soil samples (0-30 cm) will be taken at regular intervals from landward to seaward region at the selected sampling spots/ satellite locations. At least triplicate samples will be collected, air dried, passed through a 2mm sieve and then will be analyzed for nutrients. At the same time same nutrients will be checked for concentration in the overlying water. NH4+, NO2-, NO3-N (extracting with 2N KCl at 1:4 ratio (followed by distillation), available P (Prasad 2005) and extractable K (extracting with 1M ammonium acetate (pH 4) at 1:5 soil:water ratio) will be measured for soil samples. Stock and allocation of nutrients in different components will be calculated by multiplying nutrient concentration values with corresponding biomass. Mean values will be used for calculation. The amount of the overlying water samples will be also collected simultaneously and the total amount of N, P and K will be also determined by standard methods of water and wastewater analysis (Maiti . 2004). To relate the concentrations of nutrients of soil and water with those of phytoplanktons, phytoplanktons from the same locations will be collected and analyzed for the nutrients. The nutrient status of mangrove sediments in terms of soil N, P and K will be determined and their concentration will be hypothesized to relate with those of phytoplankton community and will be tried to establish relationship with different seasonal dynamics if any seasonal variations exist. For this purpose 0-30 cm surface soil to be taken into consideration (Kumar et.al. 2011). The total abundance of phytoplanktons along with species gradients and succession in different species will be examined and will be hypothesized to link up with the seasonal dynamics of various nutrients in soil and water. For this purpose soil, water and phytoplanktons will be sampled on a regular basis with 1 month interval. Along with these ichthyoplanktons abundance, species composition will be monitored regularly to find out the seasonal variations along with its relevance with spatial phytoplankton succession resulting from the seasonal nutrient dynamics

Various surface sediment samples (500 g each) of upper 10 cm will collected from the various locations by using plastic scooper. Various sampling locations will be selected in order to understand nutrient variability. Three core sediments were also collected by using PVC corer of 5 cm id and 150 cm length pivoted to ensure a vertical position. Immediately after collection, cores will be sectioned at 10 cm intervals to study the vertical variability of nutrients. The surface and core segments will be transferred to plastic zip bags and stored in an ice box at 4 _C until further analysis. Surface sediment samples will be air dried in the laboratory. Stones and plant fragments will be removed by passing the dried sample through a 2 mm sieve. The sieved samples will be powdered and finally will be passed through sieves. Size fractions of the surface sediments down to 32 m will be separated, and fractions <32 m will be separated by the Attenburg cylinders method based on the Stokes law (Griffiths, 1967). Total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were analyzed by Kjeldahl digestion method of Anderson and Ingram (1993). Outcomes and Value: Our study will help in better understanding of the ichthyoplantkon abundance and its relation to phytoplankton abundance and nutrient dynamics in different regions of Penang mangrove. References: Tomlinson, P.B., 1986. The botany of mangroves. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp:413. Kumar J.I.N., P.R. Sajish, R.N. Kumar, B. George and S. Viyol. 2011. Nutrient Dynamics in an Avicennis marina (Frosk.) Vierh. Mangorve Forest in Vamleshwar, Near Narmada Estuary, West Coast of Gujrat, India. Global Journal of Environmental Research. 5(1): 32-38.

Maiti S.K. 2004. Handbook of Methods in Environmental Studies. Vol. 1: Water and Wastewater Analysis. ABD Publishers, Jaipur, India. Pp. 308

Wosten, J.H.M., P. de Willigen, N.H. Tri, T.V. Lien and S.V. Smith. 2003. Nutrient dynamics in mangrove areas of the Red River Estuary in Vietnam. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 57: 6572. M. Bala Krishna Prasad, A.L. Ramanathan. 2008. Sedimentary nutrient dynamics in a tropical estuarine mangrove ecosystem. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 80: 6066 Alongi, D.M., Ramanathan, A.L., Kannan, L., Tirendi, F., Trott, L.A., Prasad, M.B.K., 2005. Influence of human induced disturbances on benthic microbial metabolism in the Pichavaram mangroves, VellarColeroon estuarine complex, India. Marine Biology 147, 10331044. Prasad, M.B.K., 2005. Nutrient dynamics in the Pichavaram mangroves, south east coast of India. PhD thesis. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, 172 pp. Morell, J.M., Corredor, J.E., 1993. Sediment nitrogen trapping in a mangrove lagoon. Estuarine. Coastal Shelf Science 37, 203212. Boto, K.G., 1982. Nutrient and organic fluxes in mangroves. In: Clough, B.F. (Ed.), Mangrove Ecosystems in Australia. ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 239257.

Dittmar, T., Hertkorn, N., Kattner, G., Lara, R.J., 2006. Mangroves, a major source of dissolved organic carbon to the oceans, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 20, GB 1012. Purvaja, R., Ramesh, R., Frenzel, P., 2004. Plant-mediated methane emission from an Indian mangrove. Global Change Biology 10, 18251834. Griffiths, J.C., 1967. Scientific Methods in the Analysis of Sediments. McGraw-Hill, New York, 508 pp.

Anderson, J.M., Ingram, J.S.I., 1993. Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility: A Handbook of Methods. CAB International, London, 171 pp. Hogarth, Peter J. (1999). The Biology of Mangroves. Oxford University Press, Oxford; United Kingdom; International Tropical Timber Organization (2003)..Mangroves: forests worth their salt. www.itto.or.jp Macintosh, D. J. and Ashton, E. C. (2002). A Review of Mangrove Biodiversity Conservation and Management. Centre for Tropical Ecosystems Research, University of Aarhus, Denmark (pdf file)