Distribution of Ostracoda in the Mullipallam Lagoon, near Muthupet, Tamil Nadu, Southeast Coast of India — Implications on Microenvironment

Abstract

Microfossils have been very well proved useful for ecologic/paleoecological and paleoclimatic applications. Puri (1966) stated that ostracods live in an environment in which the controlling factors are temperature, bottom topography, depth, salinity, pH, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, food supply, substrate and sediment organic matter content. Among all the physical parameters, the major controlling factors governing the ostracod distribution in estuarine and continental shelf environments are salinity, water temperature and substrate (Zhao et al., 1985; Bentley, 1988; Yassini and Jones, 1995; Shyam Sunder et al., 2000). These fauna are showing their utility in delineating changes in the environment. In the recent past, large scale land use/land cover modifications have been identified in the Ashtamudi estuary, a largest wetland region of Kerala, due to human activities (Sanjeev and Subramanian, 2003) and also in the Vedaranyam wetland (Selvaraj et al., 2005). The present work dealing with the microfaunal analysis of the Mullipallam lagoon ascertains and supports the environmental conditions that exist/changes and also generates a data base on Ostracoda for future reference.