Fingerprinting of Mangrove Ecosystems along Northern Kerala Coast using Biomarker Approach

332 Pages·2015·31.62 MB·English

FFiinnggeerrpprriinnttiinngg ooff MMaannggrroovvee EEccoossyysstteemmss aalloonngg
NNoorrtthheerrnn KKeerraallaa CCooaasstt uussiinngg
BBiioommaarrkkeerr AApppprrooaacchh

Thesis submitted to
CCoocchhiinn UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff SScciieennccee aanndd TTeecchhnnoollooggyy
in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
DDooccttoorr ooff PPhhiilloossoopphhyy
in
MMaarriinnee CChheemmiissttrryy
UUnnddeerr tthhee FFaaccuullttyy ooff MMaarriinnee SScciieenncceess

by
RReessmmii.. PP
Reg.No. 4236

Department of Chemical Oceanography
School of Marine Sciences
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Kochi – 682016

April 2015
FFiinnggeerrpprriinnttiinngg ooff MMaannggrroovvee EEccoossyysstteemmss aalloonngg
NNoorrtthheerrnn KKeerraallaa CCooaasstt uussiinngg
BBiioommaarrkkeerr AApppprrooaacchh

Ph.D. Thesis under the Faculty of Marine Sciences

Author
Resmi. P
Research Scholar
Department of Chemical Oceanography
School of Marine Sciences
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Kochi - 682016
Email: [email protected]

Supervising Guide
Dr. N. Chandramohanakumar
Professor
Department of Chemical Oceanography
School of Marine Sciences
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Kochi - 682016
Email: chandramohan.kumar @gmail.com

Department of Chemical Oceanography
School of Marine Sciences
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Kochi - 682016

April 2015
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Dr. N. Chandramohanakumar
Professor Email- chandramohan.kumar @gmail.com

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Fingerprinting of Mangrove
Ecosystems along Northern Kerala Coast using Biomarker Approach” is
an authentic record of the research work carried out by Ms. Resmi. P, under
my supervision and guidance at the Department of Chemical Oceanography,
School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology,
Kochi-682016, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D degree of
Cochin University of Science and Technology and no part of this has been
presented before for any degree in any university.
I further certify that the corrections and modifications suggested by the
audience during the pre-synopsis seminar and recommended by the Doctoral
Committee of Ms. Resmi. P are incorporated in the thesis.

Kochi – 682016 Dr. N. Chandramohanakumar
April – 2015 (Supervising Guide)
I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Fingerprinting of Mangrove
Ecosystems along Northern Kerala Coast using Biomarker Approach” is an
authentic record of the research work carried out by me under the guidance and
supervision of Dr. N. Chandramohanakumar, Professor, Department of
Chemical Oceanography, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of
Science and Technology, and no part of this has previously formed the basis of
the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or any other
similar title or recognition.

Kochi-16 Resmi. P
March, 2015
Over the past four years it has taken to complete my Ph. D thesis, many
people have helped me along the way, and I am eternally thankful for their
assistance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the persons who
have made it possible for me to commence and complete this enormous task. I
would like to acknowledge them for their efforts, cooperation and collaboration
that have worked towards the successes of this study.
I am deeply grateful to my supervising guide, Professor (Dr.)
N. Chandramohanakumar, for patiently taking me through this difficult task of
environmental research. I express my deep and sincere gratitude to my guide for
conceptualisation and implementation of this research topic, in addition to his
peerless guidance and motivation all the way through my doctoral research. He is
not only my academic supervisor, but also a real mentor and friend who let me
know how to treat life with patience and fair-mindedness.
I am thankful to Dr. Sujatha C.H., Head, Department of Chemical
Oceanography for her valuable suggestions and encouragement during the tenure
of my work. I do not have words to acknowledge Professor (Dr.) Jacob Chackko
and Professor (Dr.) S. Muraleedharan Nair, for their help and encouragement
through the course of my research.
I am grateful to Professor (Dr.) Sajan. K Dean, School of Marine Sciences
and Professor (Dr.), K. Mohan Kumar, Director, Faculty of Marine Science for
providing facilities for the research work.
I am grateful to Mr (Dr) . Shaiju P Technical Assistant for his support and
encouragement in the course of my research work. I owe special thanks to my
Senior and fellow research scholar, Ms. Manju. M. N for her unstinted support
all through the course of this research work. My special thanks to Dr.
Gireeshkumar. T. R and Dr. Ratheesh Kumar. C. S for their support to carry out
my field as well as laboratory work, regarding extraction, derivatisation and
GC-MS analysis of organic compounds. I am also grateful to Udayakrishnan. P. B
for rendering his help in the final stages of the Research work. I extend my deep
gratitude to Saritha. S, Salas. P. M, Dr. Proshob Peter K.J, Nebula Murukesh,
Movitha Mohandas, Dr. Manju Mary Joseph, and Sanil Kumar for their
companionship, inspired advice, continuous encouragement and support.
I extend my special gratitude towards Dr. Anindya Sarkar, Professor, Geology
and Geophysics, IIT Khagpur for stable carbon isotope analysis. I thank staff of
Sophisticated Instrumentation Facility, CUSAT for CHNS analysis.
I acknowledge the help and encouragement rendered by my colleagues,
Dr. Deepulal. P. M, Ragi A.S., Leena P.P., Dr. Renjitha Raveendran., Dr. Martin
G.D., Akhil P Soman., Shameem, K., Manu Mohan, Bindu, K. R., Kala K. Jacob,
Sudheesh, V., Ramzi Habeeb., Libin Baby, Mridul Rag, Eldhose Cheriyan,
Dr. Renjith K R and Dr. Radika Dileep.
I thank office staff of Department of Chemical Oceanography and Cochin
University of Science and Technology for helping the administrative work of my
thesis.
I am also thankful to my in laws for their patience and supports to
complete my research work. I would like to thank my parents and sister for their
support and inspiration over the years. I have no words to thank my husband
Sumesh. K, for his patience, advice and mental support in the entire course of my
work. My Daughter Dheerasmera, she suffered a lot in the course of my Ph.D
work, thanks to her also…
Resmi.P
Mangrove forests are the most productive and bio-diverse wetlands on
earth. It generate a large amount of litter in the form of leaves, branches, twigs,
inflorescence and other debris and provides habitat for diverse flora and fauna of
marine and terrestrial origin such as bacteria, fungi, algae, lichens, zooplankton,
benthos, birds, reptiles and mammals. These systems act as nursery for many
fishes and shellfishes. The other sources may also provide important organic
carbon inputs; including allochthonous riverine or marine material, autochthonous
production by benthic or epiphytic micro- or macroalgae, and local water
column production by phytoplankton. Since mangrove sediments are very
complex which receives autochthonous and allochthonous organic matter inputs,
the information extracted from the analysis of mangrove sediments is the
fingerprint of both natural and human-induced changes.
Bulk organic matter characterisation (stable carbon analysis and elemental
composition) along with analysis of biochemical components can be used as a tool
to characterize sources of organic matter. Due to the complexity of organic matter
sources, biogeochemistry of mangrove sediments could not be explained
effectively by using bulk organic matter characterisation or biochemical
composition and hence the application of chemical biomarkers has become
widespread. This molecular information is more specific and sensitive for
characterising sources of organic matter, and further allows for the identification
of multiple sources. Lipids can be used as effective biomarkers of organic matter
in coastal systems, which represent an important component of organic matter
with a diversity of compound classes (e.g., hydrocarbons, fatty acids, n-alkanols
and sterols).
The mangrove forest in North Malabar extend from Calicut to Kasaragod
districts represents about 83 % of mangrove cover in the State, but the scientific
investigations on these mangrove ecosystems are scanty. So mangrove ecosystems
of northern Kerala Coast were selected for the present study which includes:
Kunjimangalam, Pazhayangadi, Pappinissery, Thalassery and Kadalundi.
The thesis is divided into 8 chapters. Chapter 1 provide the introduction of
the research work and review the biomarker compounds used for source
characterization. The chapter also comprises aim and scope of the present study.
Chapter 2 deals with description of the study region and also includes the general
methods adopted for the present study. Chapter 3 Described general water
quality parameters and sedimentary characteristics such as grain size and
elemental characteristics. This chapter also devoted to phosphorus fractionation
using sequential extraction methods. In Chapter 4 stable carbon isotope and
biochemical composition is used to recognize origin and quality of organic
matter. Stable carbon analysis and biochemical composition of the sediment was
unsuccessful in explaining organic matter sources in the selected mangrove
ecosystems, so biomarker concept was introduced. Chapter 5 discussed the use
of hydrocarbon as biomarkers to identify sources of organic matter. The
difference in characteristic chain lengths of marine and terrestrial plants made
the distribution of n-alkanes an effective biomarker tool. But significant
mangrove, marine macrophyte, and/ or significant riparian–aquatic inputs
introduce sources with non- unique n-alkane compositions, making difficult the
sources determination by n-alkane chain length alone. In Chapter 6 fatty acids
are employed as biomarkers for assessing the sources and fates of organic matter
in these complex systems. Fatty acids used to trace origin of organic matter in
different environments structural diversity, source specificity and relative stability.
But poly unsaturated fatty acids can be degraded by heterotrophs that affect
concentrations as well as their relative proportions. Therefore Chapter 7,
pentacyclic triterpenoids and sterols, a common chemical constituents of marine
and terrigenous plants and have been employed as biomarkers since they are
structurally diverse and have long term stability. Finally Chapter 8 includes the
overall summary of the present study. This chapter also try to extract the use of
muti-marker approach for assessing source characteriation.
DDeeddiiccaatteedd ttoo mmyy ffaammiillyy……
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 01 - 24
1.1 General Introduction ........................................................................ 01
1.2 Molecular Biomarkers ..................................................................... 05
1.3 Aim and Scope of the study ............................................................. 08
References ................................................................................................. 11
Chapter 2
MATERIALS AND METHODS .................................................................. 25 - 40
2.1 Description of Study Area ............................................................... 25
2.2 Sampling .......................................................................................... 27
2.3 Analytical Methodology .................................................................. 29
2.3.1 General Water and Sediment Characteristics ............................... 29
2.3.2 Sequential Extraction of Sedimentary Phosphorus ....................... 30
2.3.3 Biochemical Composition .......................................................... 31
2.3.4 Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis .................................................. 32
2.3.4 Extraction of Molecular Biomarkers ........................................... 33
2.4 Statistical Analysis of Data .............................................................. 36
References ................................................................................................. 37
Chapter 3
WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS, GENERAL SEDIMENTARY
CHARACTERISICS AND PHOSPHORUS FRACTIONATION ...................... 41 - 97
3.1 Water Quality Parameters ................................................................ 41
3.1.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 41
3.1.2 Results ..................................................................................... 42
3.1.3 Discussion ................................................................................ 45
3.1.4 Principal Component Analysis .................................................. 49
3.2 General Sedimentary Characteristics ............................................... 52
3.2.1 Bulk Parameters-Elemental Composition .................................... 52
3.2.2 Results ..................................................................................... 53
3.2.3 Discussion ................................................................................ 55
3.2.3.1 Textural Characteristics ................................................................55
3.2.3.2 Elemental Composition ................................................................56
3.3 Sequential Extraction of Sedimentary Phosphorus .......................... 61
3.3.1 Results ..................................................................................... 63
3.3.2 Discussion ................................................................................ 65
3.3.3 Principal Component Analysis ................................................... 78