In comparison, among the three sampling stations, station II communities
were the shortest, implying that the structure of macrofauna communities
at this community was the most similar (Figure 9).
From the resulting dendrogram (Figure 4), it is possible to classify
the results according to stations and also for seasons. Station III
is separated from the others. In the MDS plot (Figure 4), it is found
that all season samples are separated conforming to the dendrogram.
The benthic faunal density (N) (Figure 5A) varied from 84 (station
II, monsoon) to 217 (station I, summer). The Shannon-Wiener index
(H) (Figure 5B) ranges between 4.311(station II, monsoon) and 5.167
(station I, summer). The evenness component (J′) (Figure 5D) varied
from 0.998 (station III, summer) to 0.999 (station I, monsoon). It is low
during the post-monsoon and summer season and gradually increases
during the monsoon seasons. The richness component (D) (Figure
5C) ranged between 16.69 (station II, monsoon) to 32.70 (station I,
summer).
Multiple k-dominance plots facilitate the discrimination of
benthos according to species-relative contribution to standard stock.
The k-dominance curves obtained for different stations show higher
diversity except S8Sm. The stations S2Sm and S1PM show maximum
diversity as the curves for all three stations are lying lower than others
whereas the curve of the S12M is lying in the top and has a stiff elevation
indicating the lowest diversity (Figure 6).
The k-dominance plot is plotted according to station (Figure 7); it
shows the plot for pooled data, i.e., it shows a perfect S curve indicating
the high diversity of macrofauna in station I without disturbance,
when the curves were drawn separately for the three stations among
the seasons. The k-dominance plot is also plotted for all the seasons,
and the curve drawn inputting all the stations and all the seasons are