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Ecosystem health status and trophic modeling of an anthropogenically impacted small tropical estuary along India’s west coast

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Abstract

The tropical estuaries are characterized with high biological production and also impacted by anthropogenic activities. Describing these estuaries in terms of ecological data and trophic dynamics to reveal the ecological impacts is gaining attention recently. In this study, the ecological structure is analyzed for a heavily impacted small macrotidal tropical estuary, Ulhas river estuary (URE), situated near Mumbai megacity in the western coast of India, to delineate the impact of anthropogenic stressors on the ecosystem functioning. The URE is being exploited for sand and fisheries resources, and also faces risks from anthropogenic activities. The ecological data of URE were compiled for 2017-18 together with the most relevant literature estimates to construct an ecosystem model. A trophic organization in 20 functional groups was identified for URE using Ecopath modeling approach. The functional groups identified in the food web ranged from detritus and primary producers (trophic level (TL) = 1) to large pelagics (TL = 4.14). Detritivory: herbivory ratio (1.35) indicated that the detritus chain is dominant over the primary producer’s chain. The total system throughput (TST) was estimated as 16 736.2 t km-2year-1. The indices such as net system production (NSP = 1 398.781 t km-2 year-1), total primary production/total biomass (TPP/TB = 25.17), biomass/total system throughput (TB/TST = 0.01), recycling index (Finn’s Cycling Index = 13.94%), system omnivory index (0.3), relative ascendency (25.6%), and system overhead (74.4%) classified URE as an immature system. The eco-exergy index (30748.54 gm detritus equivalent m-2) showed that the ecosystem is a moderately stable and relatively less organized network. The estuarine fish community index (EFCI) yielded a value of 38 indicating the poor health status of the fish community in URE. The study delivers a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem setting in URE and characterizes the prevailing condition. The ecological indicators analyzed here point towards a medium to a high level of impact in URE due to anthropogenic activities.

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All of the data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article [and its supplementary information files].

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Director ICAR- CIFE Mumbai for providing the necessary facilities and financial support to carry out this work. The authors are also grateful to the Directors of ICAR-CMFRI, Regional Research Centre, Mumbai, and ICAR-CCARI, Goa, for the support in site selection, field sampling, and the provision of laboratory facilities. The authors are thankful to the faculty and staff of Fisheries Resource Harvest and Post-Harvest management Division, ICAR-CIFE Mumbai, and ICAR-CMFRI Mumbai, for their valuable services and support. The authors express their heartfelt thanks to the fishermen along Naigaon, Vasai for their kind co-operation with the fishing experiments. The authors acknowledge colleagues from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay, for their help in obtaining modeled current data. Thanks, are also to the four anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and useful suggestions on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Funding

Part of the research work is supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Doctoral fellowship granted to one of the authors, Ms. Dhanya M. Lal for her PhD Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, 400 061, India

    Dhanya Mohan Lal, Avadootha Shivakrishna, Binaya Bhusan Nayak & Zeba Jaffer Abidi

  2. ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa, 403 402, India

    Giri Bhavan Sreekanth

  3. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Regional Research Centre, Mumbai, 400 061, India

    Ratheesh Kumar

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  1. Dhanya Mohan Lal
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  3. Avadootha Shivakrishna
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Contributions

Dhanya M. Lal: Collection of data, analysis and Preparation of MS

Sreekanth G. B: Data analysis and interpretation

Avadootha Shivakrishna: Field sampling and manuscript editing

Ratheesh Kumar R: Site selection and technical Guidance

Binaya Bhusan Nayak: Technical guidance

Zeba Jaffer Abidi*: Overall supervision, guidance and manuscript correction

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zeba Jaffer Abidi.

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The authors hereby declare that the research article entitled “Ecosystem health status and trophic modeling of an anthropogenically impacted small macrotidal tropical estuary along India’s west coast” is based on the field sampling in participatory mode, onboard with the traditional fishermen in the study site and performed in accordance with the relevant ethical standards in field sampling and data collection.

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Lal, D.M., Sreekanth, G.B., Shivakrishna, A. et al. Ecosystem health status and trophic modeling of an anthropogenically impacted small tropical estuary along India’s west coast. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 35073–35093 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12857-2

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