Language: English
Estuaries are noteworthy ecosystem that comprise only about 0.3% of the world’s oceans, but provide sustenance for biodiversity and support around 60% of the world population. This book represents the cumulative analysis of estuarine biodiversity in 20 major estuaries India, spread over 27 chapters. This includes a general overview of the estuaries and their distribution; a systematic account of phytoplankton, mangroves and other floral communities in estuarine habitat; ajd details of faunal species from protozoa to mammalia, and the threats as well as mitigation measures. On the basis of thorough scrutiny, the present book provides the details of 3931 species of floral and faunal communities reported from 20 major and median estuarine ecosystems of India which includes 539 species of flora and 3392 species of fauna. Among the floral communities, phytoplankton is most predominant with 468 species while arthropods are significantly recorded with 1004 species as faunal counterpart. Among the estuaries, Hoogly-Matla is biological treasure-trove with 1266 species comprising 68 species of floral and 1198 species of faunal communities.