This study was carried out from January 2005 to December 2005. A total of 12 species of crustaceans belonging to eight families were identified at the sandy beach of Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan. The habitat was poor in species. A total of ten crabs were well represented in all the monthly period sample assemblages. Hermit crab Diogenes planimanus, moon crab Matuta planipes, Ocypodid crabs Dotilla blandiformes and leucosid crabs Philyra globosa were dominant. Only one species of shrimp Metapenaeus sp. was found only in winter season and one species of epibiont crustacean Balanus crenatus was found most of time of the study period. The over-all density of crustaceans per m2 was higher in April, July to September and again in November. The total number of crustacean captured monthly related with Seawater temperature in quadratic fashion. The organization of the assemblages all the round year was simple. The diversity was low and the concentration of dominance was generally high. Diversity (H’) varied seasonally and maximum diversity was observed in December. The Whittaker curves indicated geometric distribution of abundance among the species throughout the year. Diversity indices exhibited linear dependence on each other. Shannon-Weiner index (Shannon and Weaver, 1963) and species richness (Margalef, 1958) related with Seawater temperature curvilinearly.
Saima Imran, Meher Fatima, D. Khan, Rashida Qari. (2014) SEASONAL VARIATION IN ABUNDANCE AND SPECIES DIVERSITY IN A CRUSTACEAN ASSEMBLAGE FROM SANDY BEACH OF CLIFTON (KARACHI), PAKISTAN, , Volume 11, Issue 2, 3.
